Cortical Representations of Attention and Salience

Cortical Representations of Attention and Salience

• James A. Mazer

• Department of Neurobiology

• Yale School of Medicine

The visual scenes can be complex during natural vision

Neural Representations of Attention and Salience

• Feature-based attention in area V4

• labeled lines or matched filters?
• (monkey single-unit)

• Maintaining spatial attention during eye movements

• spatiotopic or retinotopic maps for spatial attention?
• (human psychophysics)

Attention and salience maps

Attention and salience maps

Attention and salience maps

Attention and salience maps

RSVP: (slow) Rapid Search Visual Presentation

RSVP: (slow) Rapid Search Visual Presentation

RSVP: (slow) Rapid Search Visual Presentation

RSVP: (slow) Rapid Search Visual Presentation

RSVP: (slow) Rapid Search Visual Presentation

RSVP: (slow) Rapid Search Visual Presentation

RSVP: (slow) Rapid Search Visual Presentation

RSVP: (slow) Rapid Search Visual Presentation

RSVP: (slow) Rapid Search Visual Presentation

RSVP: (slow) Rapid Search Visual Presentation

RSVP: (slow) Rapid Search Visual Presentation

Tuning during RSVP: Spike Triggered Average

Tuning during RSVP: Spike Triggered Average

Tuning during RSVP: Spike Triggered Average

Tuning during RSVP: Spike Triggered Average

Tuning during RSVP: Spike Triggered Average

Tuning during RSVP: Spike Triggered Average

Interim Summary: Feature-based attention V4

• feature-based attention affects:

• shifts in preferred stimuli
• orientation-dependent gain changes

• changes in preferred stimulus could facilitate target detection, but not in any simple manner (some +, some -)‏

• modulation is maximal in a sub-population of broadly tuned V4 neurons, suggesting multiple intermingled populations within V4

• perhaps reflecting modulated and veridical subpopulations…

2. Maintaining spatial attention across eye movements

Spatial cueing 101

Spatial cueing 101

Spatial cueing 101

Neural representation of the cue?

Neural representation of the cue?

Neural representation of the cue?

Neural representation of the cue?

Neural representation of the cue?

Neural representation of the cue?

The representation of spatial attention

Conclusions

• feature-based attention

• feature-based in V4 can alter both gain and preferred stimulus
• orientation tuning changes are “correlated” with behavioral goals

• maintaining spatial attention across eye movements

• saccade planning and spatial cueing are dissociable (anti-premotor)
• spatial attention is intrinsically retintopic
• spatiotopic representations required active, top-down updating or remapping under voluntary control

Acknowledgements