Assessing within‐trial and across‐trial neural variability in macaque frontal eye fields and their relation to behaviour

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (10) ◽  
pp. 4267-4282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naveen Sendhilnathan ◽  
Debaleena Basu ◽  
Aditya Murthy
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Eye Fields ◽  
Neural Variability

scholarly journals Top-down control of visual cortex by the frontal eye fields through oscillatory realignment

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Domenica Veniero ◽  
Joachim Gross ◽  
Stephanie Morand ◽  
Felix Duecker ◽  
Alexander T. Sack ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Visual Perception ◽  
Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Single Pulse ◽  
Frontal Eye Fields ◽  
Phase Reset ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Beta Frequency

AbstractVoluntary allocation of visual attention is controlled by top-down signals generated within the Frontal Eye Fields (FEFs) that can change the excitability of lower-level visual areas. However, the mechanism through which this control is achieved remains elusive. Here, we emulated the generation of an attentional signal using single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation to activate the FEFs and tracked its consequences over the visual cortex. First, we documented changes to brain oscillations using electroencephalography and found evidence for a phase reset over occipital sites at beta frequency. We then probed for perceptual consequences of this top-down triggered phase reset and assessed its anatomical specificity. We show that FEF activation leads to cyclic modulation of visual perception and extrastriate but not primary visual cortex excitability, again at beta frequency. We conclude that top-down signals originating in FEF causally shape visual cortex activity and perception through mechanisms of oscillatory realignment.

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