LIP activity in the interstimulus interval of a change detection task biases the behavioral response.
When looking around at the world, we can only attend to a limited number of locations. The lateral intraparietal area (LIP) is thought to play a role in guiding both covert attention and eye movements. In this study, we tested the involvement of LIP in both mechanisms with a change detection task. In the task, animals had to indicate whether an element changed during a blank in the trial by making a saccade to it. If no element changed, they had to maintain fixation. We examine how the animal's behavior is biased based on LIP activity prior to the presentation of the stimulus the animal must respond to. When the activity was high, the animal was more likely to make an eye movement toward the stimulus, even if there was no change; when the activity was low, the animal either had a slower reaction time or maintained fixation, even if a change occurred. We conclude that LIP activity is involved in both covert and overt attention, but when decisions about eye movements are to be made, this role takes precedence over guiding covert attention.
Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California;
Fabrice
F
Arcizet
Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California;
Koorosh
K
Mirpour
Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California;
Daniel J
DJ
Foster
Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California; Ecole Normale Superieure (ENS), Lyon, France;
Caroline J
CJ
Charpentier
Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California; Jules Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California; and Department of Psychology and the Brain Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, California jbisley@mednet.ucla.edu.
James W
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2841-0306
JW
Bisley
D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012438:Saccades; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
attention; eye movement; lateral intraparietal area