title: Feature-based attention and spatial selection in frontal eye fields during natural scene search.
abstract: When we search for visual objects, the features of those objects bias our attention across the visual landscape (feature-based attention). The brain uses these top-down cues to select eye movement targets (spatial selection). The frontal eye field (FEF) is a prefrontal brain region implicated in selecting eye movements and is thought to reflect feature-based attention and spatial selection. Here, we study how FEF facilitates attention and selection in complex natural scenes. We ask whether FEF neurons facilitate feature-based attention by representing search-relevant visual features or whether they are primarily involved in selecting eye movement targets in space. We show that search-relevant visual features are weakly predictive of gaze in natural scenes and additionally have no significant influence on FEF activity. Instead, FEF activity appears to primarily correlate with the direction of the upcoming eye movement. Our result demonstrates a concrete need for better models of natural scene search and suggests that FEF activity during natural scene search is explained primarily by spatial selection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Northwestern University and Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; and pavan.ramkumar@northwestern.edu.
authors.forename: Pavan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ramkumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Northwestern University and Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; and.
authors.forename: Patrick N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Lawlor
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Northwestern University and Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; and.
authors.forename: Joshua I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Glaser
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; and.
authors.forename: Daniel K
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3179-4072
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.affiliation: Tamagawa University Brain Science Institute, Machida, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Adam N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; and.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Segraves
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Northwestern University and Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois;
authors.forename: Konrad P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Kording
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D019540:Area Under Curve; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D053483:Eye Movement Measurements; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D016014:Linear Models; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008839:Microelectrodes; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012372:ROC Curve; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: feature-based attention; frontal eye field; generalized linear modeling; natural scenes; saccades; spatial selection; visual search