title: Monkey area MT latencies to speed changes depend on attention and correlate with behavioral reaction times.
abstract: Selective visual attention is known to be associated with characteristic modulations of neuronal activity in early visual cortex, but there is only rare evidence showing that these neuronal modulations are directly related to attention-dependent behavioral improvements. Here, we describe a strong, transient increase in the response of neurons in the mediotemporal (MT) area to behaviorally relevant speed changes that is not only modulated by attention but also highly correlated with the animal's performance. In trials with fast reaction time (RT), this transient component occurs with short latency, whereas latency increases monotonically with slower RT. Importantly, RTs are related not to the firing rate modulation during sustained attentive tracking of the target prior to the speed change but to the variability of the neuronal response. Our findings suggest a direct link between attention-dependent response modulations in early visual cortex and improved behavioral performance.
authors.affiliation: Brain Research Institute, Center for Cognitive Sciences, University of Bremen, P.O. Box 33 04 40, D-28334 Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: F Orlando
authors.initials: FO
authors.lastname: Galashan
authors.forename: Hanna C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Saßen
authors.forename: Andreas K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Kreiter
authors.forename: Detlef
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wegener
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*