Feature-based attention in human visual cortex simulation of….pdfVIP

/locate/ynimg NeuroImage 21 (2004) 36– 45 Feature-based attention in human visual cortex: simulation of fMRI data Silvia Corchsa,* and Gustavo Decob a Corporate Technology, Information and Communications, Siemens AG, 81739 Munich, Germany b Computational Neuroscience, Department of Technology, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, Spain Received 11 February 2003; revised 14 August 2003; accepted 28 August 2003 We use a computational neuroscience approach to study the role of Regarding spatial attention, it is known that objects presented at feature-based attention in visual perception. This model is used to an attended location are discriminated more accurately and produce numerically simulate a visual attention experiment. The neurodynam- stronger blood flow response in ventral regions than targets ical system consists of many interconnected modules that can be related presented at unattended locations (Colby, 1991). to the dorsal and ventral paths of the visual cortex. We can also mention single-cell studies in awake, behaving The biased competition hypothesis is taken into account within the monkeys, which have shown that cells in V2 and V4 can be model. From the experimental point of view, measurements exist, which confirm that feature-based attention influences visual cortical re- modulated by attention (Luck et al., 1997; Moran and Desimone, sponses to stimuli outside the attended location. These measurements 1985; Reynolds et al., 1999). More