covert shift of attention modulates the ongoing neural activity in a reaching area of the macaque dorsomedial visual stream秘密转移注意力的调节达到区域的神经活动的猕猴dorsomedial视觉流.pdfVIP

Covert Shift of Attention Modulates the Ongoing Neural Activity in a Reaching Area of the Macaque Dorsomedial Visual Stream 1 1 2 1 1 Claudio Galletti , Rossella Breveglieri , Markus Lappe , Annalisa Bosco , Marco Ciavarro , Patrizia Fattori1* 1 Dipartimento di Fisiologia Umana e Generale, Universita’ di Bologna, Bologna, Italy, 2 Department of Psychology and Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and ¨ ¨ Behavioral Neuroscience, Westfalische Wilhelms-University, Munster, Germany Abstract Background: Attention is used to enhance neural processing of selected parts of a visual scene. It increases neural responses to stimuli near target locations and is usually coupled to eye movements. Covert attention shifts, however, decouple the attentional focus from gaze, allowing to direct the attention to a peripheral location without moving the eyes. We tested whether covert attention shifts modulate ongoing neuronal activity in cortical area V6A, an area that provides a bridge between visual signals and arm-motor control. Methodology/Principal Findings: We performed single cell recordings from 3 Macaca Fascicularis trained to fixate straight- head, while shifting attention outward to a peripheral cue and inward again to the fixation point. We found that neurons in V6A are influenced by spatial attention. The attentional modulation occurs without gaze shifts and cannot be explained by visual stimulations. Visual, motor, and attentional responses can occur in combination in single neurons. Conclusions/Significance: This modulation in an area primarily involved in visuo-motor transformation for reaching may form a neural basis for cou