title: Differential neuronal representation of spatial attention dependent on relative target locations during multiple object tracking.
abstract: Humans can simultaneously track multiple moving objects with attention. The number of objects that can be tracked is known to be larger when visual stimuli are presented bilaterally rather than presented unilaterally. To elucidate the underlying neuronal mechanism, we trained monkeys to covertly track a single or multiple object(s). We found that neurons in the lateral prefrontal cortex exhibited greater activity for the target passing through the receptive field (RF) than for distractors. During multiple-object tracking, response enhancement for one target presented in the RF was stronger when the other target was located in the opposite than the same visual hemifield. Because the neuronal modulation did not differ depending on relative target locations with respect to upper and lower visual hemifields, the distance between the targets does not explain the results. We propose that inherent, anatomical separation of visual processing for contralateral and ipsilateral visual fields might constrain cognitive capacity.
authors: Department of Physiology, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan ayano@m.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
authors: Ayano
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1313-9285
authors: A
authors: Matsushima
authors: Department of Physiology, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan.
authors: Masaki
authors: M
authors: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008251:Macaca; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology
keywords: MOT; attentional capacity; bilateral advantage; prefrontal cortex; primate; single-unit recording