scholarly journals Low-Frequency Oscillations Arising From Competitive Interactions Between Visual Stimuli in Macaque Inferotemporal Cortex

2005 ◽  
Vol 94 (5) ◽  
pp. 3368-3387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julianne E. Rollenhagen ◽  
Carl R. Olson

Some neurons in the inferotemporal cortex (IT) of the macaque monkey respond to visual stimuli by firing action potentials in a series of sharply defined bursts at a frequency of about 5 Hz. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that the oscillatory responses of these neurons depend on competitive interactions with other neurons selective for different stimuli. To test this hypothesis, we monitored responses to probe images displayed in the presence of other already visible backdrop images. Two stimuli were used in testing each neuron: a foveal image that, when displayed alone, elicited an excitatory response (the “object”) and a peripheral image that, when displayed alone, elicited little or no activity (the “flanker”). We assessed the results of presenting these images separately and together in monkeys trained to maintain central fixation. Two novel phenomena emerged. First, displaying the object in the presence of the flanker enhanced the strength of the oscillatory component of the response to the object. This effect varied in strength across task contexts and may have depended on the monkey's allocating attention to the flanker. Second, displaying the flanker in the presence of the object gave rise to sometimes strong oscillations in which the initial phase was negative. This was all the more striking because the flanker by itself elicited little or no response. This effect was robust and invariant across task contexts. These results can be accounted for by competition between two neuronal populations, one selective for the object and the other for the flanker, if it is assumed that the visual responses of each population are subject to fatigue.

1990 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 523-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Lal ◽  
M. J. Friedlander

1. The nature and time window of interaction between passive phasic eye movement signals and visual stimuli were studied for dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGNd) neurons in the cat. Extracellular recordings were made from single neurons in layer A of the left LGNd of anesthetized paralyzed cats in response to a normalized visual stimulus presented to the right eye at each of several times of movement of the left eye. The left eye was moved passively at a fixed amplitude and velocity while varying the movement onset time with respect to the visual stimulus onset in a randomized and interleaved fashion. Visual stimuli consisted of square-wave modulated circular spots of appropriate contrast, sign, and size to elicit an optimal excitatory response when placed in the neurons' receptive-field (RF) center. 2. Interactions were analyzed for 78 neurons (33 X-neurons, 43 Y-neurons, and 2 physiologically unclassified neurons) on 25-65 trials of identical visual stimuli for each of eight times of eye movement. 3. Sixty percent (47/78) of the neurons tested had a significant eye movement effect (ANOVA, P less than 0.05) on some aspect of their visual response. Of these 47 neurons, 42 (89%) had a significant (P less than 0.05) effect of an appropriately timed eye movement on the number of action potentials, 36 (77%) had a significant effect on the mean peak firing rate, and 31 (66%) were significantly affected as evaluated by both criteria. 4. The eye movement effect on the neurons' visual responses was primarily facilitatory. Facilitation was observed for 37 (79%) of the affected neurons. For 25 of these 37 neurons (68%), the facilitation was significant (P less than 0.05) as evaluated by both criteria (number of action potentials and mean peak firing rate). Ten (21%) of the affected neurons had their visual response significantly inhibited (P less than 0.05). 5. Sixty percent (46/78) of the neurons were tested for the effect of eye movement on both visually elicited activity (visual stimulus contrast = 2 times threshold) and spontaneous activity (contrast = 0). Eye movement significantly affected the visual response of 23 (50%) of these neurons. However, spontaneous activity was significantly affected for only nine (20%) of these neurons. The interaction of the eye movement and visual signals was nonlinear. 6. Nine of 12 neurons (75%) tested had a directionally selective effect of eye movement on the visual response, with most (8/9) preferring the temporal ward direction.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 1919-1932 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel K. Wood ◽  
Chao Gu ◽  
Brian D. Corneil ◽  
Paul L. Gribble ◽  
Melvyn A. Goodale

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edden M. Gerber ◽  
Leon Y. Deouell

AbstractWhat are the neurophysiological correlates of sustained visual processing in the scalp EEG signal? In a previous study using intracranial recordings in humans, we found that presentation of visual stimuli for prolonged durations (up to 1.5 seconds) was associated with two kinds of sustained neural activity patterns: a high-frequency broadband (>30 Hz) response that tracked the duration of the stimulus with high precision in early visual cortex (EVC), and with lesser temporal precision in downstream category-selective areas; and a sustained low-frequency potential shift appearing in a small subset of EVC sites. Using a similar approach of presenting images for variable durations to identify sustained activity, we provide the first comprehensive characterization of the manifestation of sustained visual responses as recorded with EEG. In a series of four experiments, we found that both high- and low-frequency sustained responses can be detected on the scalp. The high frequency activity could be detected with high signal to noise ratio only in a subset of individual subjects, in whom it was unequivocal and highly localized. The low frequency sustained response was sensitive to the size and position of the stimulus in the visual field. Both response types showed strong lateralization for stimuli on the left vs. right visual field, suggesting a retinotopic visual cortical source. However, different scalp topographies and different modulation by stimulus properties suggest that the two types of sustained responses are likely driven by distinct sources, and reflect different aspects of sustained processing in the visual cortex.


2021 ◽  
pp. 105444
Author(s):  
Chun-Chuan Chen ◽  
Antonella Macerollo ◽  
Hoon-Ming Heng ◽  
Ming-Kuei Lu ◽  
Chon-Haw Tsai ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Rozzi ◽  
Marco Bimbi ◽  
Alfonso Gravante ◽  
Luciano Simone ◽  
Leonardo Fogassi

AbstractThe ventral part of lateral prefrontal cortex (VLPF) of the monkey receives strong visual input, mainly from inferotemporal cortex. It has been shown that VLPF neurons can show visual responses during paradigms requiring to associate arbitrary visual cues to behavioral reactions. Further studies showed that there are also VLPF neurons responding to the presentation of specific visual stimuli, such as objects and faces. However, it is largely unknown whether VLPF neurons respond and differentiate between stimuli belonging to different categories, also in absence of a specific requirement to actively categorize or to exploit these stimuli for choosing a given behavior. The first aim of the present study is to evaluate and map the responses of neurons of a large sector of VLPF to a wide set of visual stimuli when monkeys simply observe them. Recent studies showed that visual responses to objects are also present in VLPF neurons coding action execution, when they are the target of the action. Thus, the second aim of the present study is to compare the visual responses of VLPF neurons when the same objects are simply observed or when they become the target of a grasping action. Our results indicate that: (1) part of VLPF visually responsive neurons respond specifically to one stimulus or to a small set of stimuli, but there is no indication of a “passive” categorical coding; (2) VLPF neuronal visual responses to objects are often modulated by the task conditions in which the object is observed, with the strongest response when the object is target of an action. These data indicate that VLPF performs an early passive description of several types of visual stimuli, that can then be used for organizing and planning behavior. This could explain the modulation of visual response both in associative learning and in natural behavior.


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