scholarly journals Attending to what and where: Background connectivity integrates categorical and spatial attention

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexa Tompary ◽  
Naseem Al-Aidroos ◽  
Nicholas B. Turk-Browne
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Attentional Modulation ◽  
Temporal Correlations ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Early Visual Cortex ◽  
Ventral Temporal Cortex

AbstractTop-down attention prioritizes the processing of goal-relevant information throughout visual cortex, based on where that information is found in space and what it looks like. Whereas attentional goals often have both spatial and featural components, most research on the neural basis of attention has examined these components separately. This may reflect the fact that attention is typically studied in individual visual areas that preferentially code for either spatial locations or particular features. Here we investigated how these attentional components are integrated by examining the attentional modulation of functional connectivity between visual areas with different selectivity. Specifically, we used fMRI to measure temporal correlations between spatially-selective regions of early visual cortex and category-selective regions in ventral temporal cortex while participants performed a task that benefitted from both spatial and categorical attention. We found that categorical attention modulated the connectivity of category-selective areas, but only with retinotopic areas that coded for the spatially attended location. The reverse was not true, however, with spatial attention modulating the connectivity of retinotopic areas with category-selective areas coding for both attended and unattended features. This pattern of results suggests that attentional modulation of connectivity is dominated by spatial selection, which in turn gates featural biases. Combined with exploratory analyses of frontoparietal areas that track these changes in connectivity among visual areas, this study begins to shed light on how different components of attention are integrated in support of more complex behavioral goals.

scholarly journals Attending to What and Where: Background Connectivity Integrates Categorical and Spatial Attention

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (9) ◽  
pp. 1281-1297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexa Tompary ◽  
Naseem Al-Aidroos ◽  
Nicholas B. Turk-Browne
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Attentional Modulation ◽  
Temporal Correlations ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Early Visual Cortex ◽  
Ventral Temporal Cortex

Top–down attention prioritizes the processing of goal-relevant information throughout visual cortex based on where that information is found in space and what it looks like. Whereas attentional goals often have both spatial and featural components, most research on the neural basis of attention has examined these components separately. Here we investigated how these attentional components are integrated by examining the attentional modulation of functional connectivity between visual areas with different selectivity. Specifically, we used fMRI to measure temporal correlations between spatially selective regions of early visual cortex and category-selective regions in ventral temporal cortex while participants performed a task that benefitted from both spatial and categorical attention. We found that categorical attention modulated the connectivity of category-selective areas, but only with retinotopic areas that coded for the spatially attended location. Similarly, spatial attention modulated the connectivity of retinotopic areas only with the areas coding for the attended category. This pattern of results suggests that attentional modulation of connectivity is driven both by spatial selection and featural biases. Combined with exploratory analyses of frontoparietal areas that track these changes in connectivity among visual areas, this study begins to shed light on how different components of attention are integrated in support of more complex behavioral goals.

scholarly journals Preparatory Activity in Posterior Temporal Cortex Causally Contributes to Object Detection in Scenes

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (11) ◽  
pp. 2117-2125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reshanne R. Reeder ◽  
Francesca Perini ◽  
Marius V. Peelen
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Object Detection ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Visual Selective Attention ◽  
Object Categories ◽  
Preparatory Attention ◽  
Preparatory Activity ◽  
Early Visual Cortex

Theories of visual selective attention propose that top–down preparatory attention signals mediate the selection of task-relevant information in cluttered scenes. Neuroimaging and electrophysiology studies have provided correlative evidence for this hypothesis, finding increased activity in target-selective neural populations in visual cortex in the period between a search cue and target onset. In this study, we used online TMS to test whether preparatory neural activity in visual cortex is causally involved in naturalistic object detection. In two experiments, participants detected the presence of object categories (cars, people) in a diverse set of photographs of real-world scenes. TMS was applied over a region in posterior temporal cortex identified by fMRI as carrying category-specific preparatory activity patterns. Results showed that TMS applied over posterior temporal cortex before scene onset (−200 and −100 msec) impaired the detection of object categories in subsequently presented scenes, relative to vertex and early visual cortex stimulation. This effect was specific to category level detection and was related to the type of attentional template participants adopted, with the strongest effects observed in participants adopting category level templates. These results provide evidence for a causal role of preparatory attention in mediating the detection of objects in cluttered daily-life environments.

Neural Coding of Global Form in the Human Visual Cortex

2008 ◽  
Vol 99 (5) ◽  
pp. 2456-2469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Ostwald ◽  
Judith M. Lam ◽  
Sheng Li ◽  
Zoe Kourtzi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Neural Coding ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Complex Object ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Global Form ◽  
Pattern Size ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Object Features

Extensive psychophysical and computational work proposes that the perception of coherent and meaningful structures in natural images relies on neural processes that convert information about local edges in primary visual cortex to complex object features represented in the temporal cortex. However, the neural basis of these mid-level vision mechanisms in the human brain remains largely unknown. Here, we examine functional MRI (fMRI) selectivity for global forms in the human visual pathways using sensitive multivariate analysis methods that take advantage of information across brain activation patterns. We use Glass patterns, parametrically varying the perceived global form (concentric, radial, translational) while ensuring that the local statistics remain similar. Our findings show a continuum of integration processes that convert selectivity for local signals (orientation, position) in early visual areas to selectivity for global form structure in higher occipitotemporal areas. Interestingly, higher occipitotemporal areas discern differences in global form structure rather than low-level stimulus properties with higher accuracy than early visual areas while relying on information from smaller but more selective neural populations (smaller voxel pattern size), consistent with global pooling mechanisms of local orientation signals. These findings suggest that the human visual system uses a code of increasing efficiency across stages of analysis that is critical for the successful detection and recognition of objects in complex environments.

Spatial Attentional Selection Modulates Early Visual Stimulus Processing Independently of Visual Alpha Modulations

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 3686-3703 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Gundlach ◽  
S Moratti ◽  
N Forschack ◽  
M M Müller
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Gain Control ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Alpha Band ◽  
Stimulus Processing ◽  
Early Visual Cortex

Abstract The capacity-limited human brain is constantly confronted with a huge amount of sensory information. Selective attention is needed for biasing neural processing towards relevant information and consequently allows meaningful interaction with the environment. Activity in the alpha-band has been proposed to be related to top-down modulation of neural inhibition and could thus represent a viable candidate to control the priority of stimulus processing. It is, however, unknown whether modulations in the alpha-band directly relate to changes in the sensory gain control of the early visual cortex. Here, we used a spatial cueing paradigm while simultaneously measuring ongoing alpha-band oscillations and steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) as a marker of continuous early sensory processing in the human visual cortex. Thereby, the effects of spatial attention for both of these signals and their potential interactions were assessed. As expected, spatial attention modulated both alpha-band and SSVEP responses. However, their modulations were independent of each other and the corresponding activity profiles differed across task demands. Thus, our results challenge the view that modulations of alpha-band activity represent a mechanism that directly alters or controls sensory gain. The potential role of alpha-band oscillations beyond sensory processing will be discussed in light of the present results.

scholarly journals Layer-dependent multiplicative effects of spatial attention on contrast responses in human early visual cortex

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fanhua Guo ◽  
Chengwen Liu ◽  
Chencan Qian ◽  
Zihao Zhang ◽  
Kaibao Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Middle Layer ◽  
Additive Effect ◽  
List Type ◽  
Strong Nonlinearity ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Contrast Gain ◽  
Early Visual Cortex ◽  
Deep Layers

AbstractAttention mechanisms at different cortical layers of human visual cortex remain poorly understood. Using submillimeter-resolution fMRI at 7T, we investigated the effects of top-down spatial attention on the contrast responses across different cortical depths in human early visual cortex. Gradient echo (GE) T2* weighted BOLD signal showed an additive effect of attention on contrast responses across cortical depths. Compared to the middle cortical depth, attention modulation was stronger in the superficial and deep depths of V1, and also stronger in the superficial depth of V2 and V3. Using ultra-high resolution (0.3mm in-plane) balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) fMRI, a multiplicative scaling effect of attention was found in the superficial and deep layers, but not in the middle layer of V1. Attention modulation of low contrast response was strongest in the middle cortical depths, indicating baseline enhancement or contrast gain of attention modulation on feedforward input. Finally, the additive effect of attention on T2* BOLD can be explained by strong nonlinearity of BOLD signals from large blood vessels, suggesting multiplicative effect of attention on neural activity. These findings support that top-down spatial attention mainly operates through feedback connections from higher order cortical areas, and a distinct mechanism of attention may also be associated with feedforward input through subcortical pathway.HighlightsResponse or activity gain of spatial attention in superficial and deep layersContrast gain or baseline shift of attention in V1 middle layerNonlinearity of large blood vessel causes additive effect of attention on T2* BOLD

scholarly journals Layer-specific modulation of top-down spatial attention in human early visual cortex

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Peng Zhang ◽  
Chengwen Liu ◽  
chencan Qian ◽  
Zihao Zhang ◽  
Sheng He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Early Visual Cortex

scholarly journals Rewarding Feedback After Correct Visual Discriminations Has Both General and Specific Influences on Visual Cortex

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (3) ◽  
pp. 1746-1757 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Weil ◽  
N. Furl ◽  
C. C. Ruff ◽  
M. Symmonds ◽  
G. Flandin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Correct Performance ◽  
Visual Events ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
Time Point

Reward can influence visual performance, but the neural basis of this effect remains poorly understood. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate how rewarding feedback affected activity in distinct areas of human visual cortex, separating rewarding feedback events after correct performance from preceding visual events. Participants discriminated oriented gratings in either hemifield, receiving auditory feedback at trial end that signaled financial reward after correct performance. Greater rewards improved performance for all but the most difficult trials. Rewarding feedback increased blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals in striatum and orbitofrontal cortex. It also increased BOLD signals in visual areas beyond retinotopic cortex, but not in primary visual cortex representing the judged stimuli. These modulations were seen at a time point in which no visual stimuli were presented or expected, demonstrating a novel type of activity change in visual cortex that cannot reflect modulation of response to incoming or anticipated visual stimuli. Rewarded trials led on the next trial to improved performance and enhanced visual activity contralateral to the judged stimulus, for retinotopic representations of the judged visual stimuli in V1. Our findings distinguish general effects in nonretinotopic visual cortex when receiving rewarding feedback after correct performance from consequences of reward for spatially specific responses in V1.

Involuntary Listening Aids Seeing: Evidence From Human Electrophysiology

2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. McDonald ◽  
Lawrence M. Ward
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Visual Target ◽  
Modal Interactions ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Attention Orienting ◽  
Irrelevant Sound ◽  
Human Electrophysiology

It is well known that sensory events of one modality can influence judgments of sensory events in other modalities. For example, people respond more quickly to a target appearing at the location of a previous cue than to a target appearing at another location, even when the two stimuli are from different modalities. Such cross-modal interactions suggest that involuntary spatial attention mechanisms are not entirely modality-specific. In the present study, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded to elucidate the neural basis and timing of involuntary, cross-modal spatial attention effects. We found that orienting spatial attention to an irrelevant sound modulates the ERP to a subsequent visual target over modality-specific, extrastriate visual cortex, but only after the initial stages of sensory processing are completed. These findings are consistent with the proposal that involuntary spatial attention orienting to auditory and visual stimuli involves shared, or at least linked, brain mechanisms.

scholarly journals Attention enhances category representations across the brain with strengthened residual correlations to ventral temporal cortex

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arielle S Keller ◽  
Akshay V Jagadeesh ◽  
Lior Bugatus ◽  
Leanne M Williams ◽  
Kalanit Grill-Spector
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Cortical Region ◽  
Visual Responses ◽  
Attention Task ◽  
Category Information ◽  
Ventral Temporal Cortex ◽  
Residual Correlations ◽  
The Brain

How does attention enhance neural representations of goal-relevant stimuli while suppressing representations of ignored stimuli across regions of the brain? While prior studies have shown that attention enhances visual responses, we lack a cohesive understanding of how selective attention modulates visual representations across the brain. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while participants performed a selective attention task on superimposed stimuli from multiple categories and used a data-driven approach to test how attention affects both decodability of category information and residual correlations (after regressing out stimulus-driven variance) with category-selective regions of ventral temporal cortex (VTC). Our data reveal three main findings. First, when two objects are simultaneously viewed, the category of the attended object can be decoded more readily than the category of the ignored object, with the greatest attentional enhancements observed in occipital and temporal lobes. Second, after accounting for the response to the stimulus, the correlation in the residual brain activity between a cortical region and a category-selective region of VTC was elevated when that region's preferred category was attended vs. ignored, and more so in the right occipital, parietal, and frontal cortices. Third, we found that the stronger the residual correlations between a given region of cortex and VTC, the better visual category information could be decoded from that region. These findings suggest that heightened residual correlations by selective attention may reflect the sharing of information between sensory regions and higher-order cortical regions to provide attentional enhancement of goal-relevant information.

scholarly journals A Probabilistic Functional Atlas of Human Occipito-Temporal Visual Cortex

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 603-619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mona Rosenke ◽  
Rick van Hoof ◽  
Job van den Hurk ◽  
Kalanit Grill-Spector ◽  
Rainer Goebel
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Functional Region ◽  
Accurate Localization ◽  
Imaging Research ◽  
Ventral Temporal Cortex

Abstract Human visual cortex contains many retinotopic and category-specific regions. These brain regions have been the focus of a large body of functional magnetic resonance imaging research, significantly expanding our understanding of visual processing. As studying these regions requires accurate localization of their cortical location, researchers perform functional localizer scans to identify these regions in each individual. However, it is not always possible to conduct these localizer scans. Here, we developed and validated a functional region of interest (ROI) atlas of early visual and category-selective regions in human ventral and lateral occipito-temporal cortex. Results show that for the majority of functionally defined ROIs, cortex-based alignment results in lower between-subject variability compared to nonlinear volumetric alignment. Furthermore, we demonstrate that 1) the atlas accurately predicts the location of an independent dataset of ventral temporal cortex ROIs and other atlases of place selectivity, motion selectivity, and retinotopy. Next, 2) we show that the majority of voxel within our atlas is responding mostly to the labeled category in a left-out subject cross-validation, demonstrating the utility of this atlas. The functional atlas is publicly available (download.brainvoyager.com/data/visfAtlas.zip) and can help identify the location of these regions in healthy subjects as well as populations (e.g., blind people, infants) in which functional localizers cannot be run.

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