title: Interaction between Spatial and Feature Attention in Posterior Parietal Cortex.
abstract: Lateral intraparietal (LIP) neurons encode a vast array of sensory and cognitive variables. Recently, we proposed that the flexibility of feature representations in LIP reflect the bottom-up integration of sensory signals, modulated by feature-based attention (FBA), from upstream feature-selective cortical neurons. Moreover, LIP activity is also strongly modulated by the position of space-based attention (SBA). However, the mechanisms by which SBA and FBA interact to facilitate the representation of task-relevant spatial and non-spatial features in LIP remain unclear. We recorded from LIP neurons during performance of a task that required monkeys to detect specific conjunctions of color, motion direction, and stimulus position. Here we show that FBA and SBA potentiate each other's effect in a manner consistent with attention gating the flow of visual information along the cortical visual pathway. Our results suggest that linear bottom-up integrative mechanisms allow LIP neurons to emphasize task-relevant spatial and non-spatial features.
authors: Department of Neurobiology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. Electronic address: guilhemibos@gmail.com.
authors: Guilhem
authors: G
authors: Ibos
authors: Department of Neurobiology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Grossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
authors: David J
authors: DJ
authors: Freedman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology