title: Attention improves object representation in visual cortical field potentials.
abstract: Selective attention improves perception and modulates neuronal responses, but how attention-dependent changes of cortical activity improve the processing of attended objects is an open question. Changes in total signal strength or enhancements in signal-to-noise ratio have been proposed as putative mechanisms. However, it is still not clear whether, and to what extent, these processes contribute to the large perceptual improvements. We studied the ability to discriminate states of activity in visual cortex evoked by differently shaped objects depending on selective attention in monkeys. We found that gamma-band activity from V4 and V1 contains a high amount of information about stimulus shape, which increases for V4 recordings considerably with attention in successful trials, but not in case of behavioral errors. This effect resulted from enhanced differences between the stimulus-specific distributions of power spectral amplitudes. It could be explained neither by enhancements of signal-to-noise ratios, nor by changes in total signal power. Instead our results indicate that attention causes underlying cortical network states to become more distinct for different stimuli, providing a new neurophysiological explanation for improvements of behavioral performance by attention. The absence of the enhancement in discriminability in trials with behavioral errors demonstrates the relevance of this novel neural mechanism for perception.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Bremen, Germany. davrot@neuro.uni-bremen.de
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rotermund
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Udo A
authors.initials: UA
authors.lastname: Ernst
authors.forename: Andreas K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Kreiter
authors.forename: Klaus R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Pawelzik
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D008839:Microelectrodes; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
references.citation: Annu Rev Neurosci. 2004;27:611-47
references.pmid: 15217345
references.citation: J Neurosci. 1997 May 1;17(9):3201-14
references.pmid: 9096154
references.citation: Phys Rev Lett. 1996 Jul 22;77(4):635-638
references.pmid: 10062864
references.citation: Nat Neurosci. 2006 Dec;9(12):1526-33
references.pmid: 17115043
references.citation: Nature. 2006 Feb 9;439(7077):733-6
references.pmid: 16372022
references.citation: Neuroreport. 1993 Mar;4(3):243-6
references.pmid: 8477045
references.citation: J Neurophysiol. 1989 May;61(5):900-17
references.pmid: 2723733
references.citation: Neuron. 2009 Jan 15;61(1):35-41
references.pmid: 19146811
references.citation: Trends Cogn Sci. 2005 Oct;9(10):474-80
references.pmid: 16150631
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2000 Jul 15;20(14):5461-7
references.pmid: 10884329
references.citation: Nature. 2000 Mar 9;404(6774):187-90
references.pmid: 10724171
references.citation: J Comp Neurol. 1981 Oct 1;201(4):519-39
references.pmid: 7287933
references.citation: Neuron. 2000 Jun;26(3):703-14
references.pmid: 10896165
references.citation: Neuron. 1999 Aug;23(4):765-73
references.pmid: 10482242
references.citation: Neuron. 2007 Jul 5;55(1):131-41
references.pmid: 17610822
references.citation: Eur J Neurosci. 1990;2(7):588-606
references.pmid: 12106294
references.citation: Vision Res. 1997 Jan;37(1):25-43
references.pmid: 9068829
references.citation: Int Rev Neurobiol. 1971 Jul;15:227-72
references.pmid: 4949975
references.citation: Neural Comput. 2000 May;12(5):1207-45
references.pmid: 10905814
references.citation: Trends Neurosci. 1998 Nov;21(11):453-60
references.pmid: 9829684
references.citation: IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 1984 May;31(5):419-27
references.pmid: 6430785
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2008 Apr 30;28(18):4823-35
references.pmid: 18448659
references.citation: Vis Neurosci. 2001 Jul-Aug;18(4):527-40
references.pmid: 11829299
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1981 Apr;7(2):275-85
references.pmid: 6453922
references.citation: Science. 2002 Jun 7;296(5574):1829-32
references.pmid: 12052948
references.citation: Nat Neurosci. 2009 Jan;12(1):70-6
references.pmid: 19029885
references.citation: Science. 2006 Jun 16;312(5780):1622-7
references.pmid: 16778049
references.citation: Neural Comput. 2001 Jul;13(7):1443-71
references.pmid: 11440593
references.citation: IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 1984 Dec;31(12):833-50
references.pmid: 6396209
references.citation: Curr Biol. 2004 May 4;14(9):744-51
references.pmid: 15120065
references.citation: Nature. 1996 Aug 8;382(6591):539-41
references.pmid: 8700227
references.citation: Neuron. 2003 Feb 6;37(3):513-23
references.pmid: 12575957
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2006 Jul 26;26(30):7779-90
references.pmid: 16870724
references.citation: J Neurosci. 1999 Jan 1;19(1):431-41
references.pmid: 9870971
references.citation: Eur J Neurosci. 1990;2(7):607-619
references.pmid: 12106295
references.citation: J Neurosci. 1988 Jun;8(6):1831-45
references.pmid: 3385477
references.citation: J Neurosci. 1999 Mar 1;19(5):1736-53
references.pmid: 10024360
references.citation: Science. 1985 Aug 23;229(4715):782-4
references.pmid: 4023713
references.citation: Science. 2007 Jun 15;316(5831):1609-12
references.pmid: 17569862
references.citation: Nat Neurosci. 2006 Sep;9(9):1156-60
references.pmid: 16906153
references.citation: Science. 2005 Apr 22;308(5721):529-34
references.pmid: 15845848
references.citation: Science. 2001 Feb 23;291(5508):1560-3
references.pmid: 11222864
references.citation: Cereb Cortex. 2005 Sep;15(9):1424-37
references.pmid: 15659657
references.citation: Annu Rev Neurosci. 1995;18:555-86
references.pmid: 7605074
references.citation: Cogn Psychol. 1992 Oct;24(4):502-34
references.pmid: 1473333
references.citation: Nature. 2000 Nov 16;408(6810):361-5
references.pmid: 11099043
references.citation: IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 1987 Apr;34(4):283-8
references.pmid: 3504202
references.citation: Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1997 Nov;103(5):499-515
references.pmid: 9402881
references.citation: Science. 2008 Apr 4;320(5872):110-3
references.pmid: 18388295
references.citation: J Neurophysiol. 1993 Sep;70(3):909-19
references.pmid: 8229178