Abstract
Event Abstract Back to Event Attention reshapes center-surround receptive-field structure in Macaque cortical area MT Katharina Anton-Erxleben1*, Valeska Stephan1 and Stefan Treue1 1 German Primate Center, Germany Directing spatial attention to a location inside the classical receptive field (cRF) of a neuron in macaque medial temporal area (MT) has been shown to shift the center of the cRF towards the attended location. Here we investigate the influence of spatial attention on the profile of the inhibitory surround present in many MT neurons. Two monkeys were trained to attend to the fixation point or to one of two random dot patterns (RDPs) placed at equal eccentricity inside or next to the cRF, while a third RDP (the probe) was briefly presented in quick succession at regularly spaced positions spanning the receptive field center and surround. Mean responses to probe presentation at the different positions were used to compute a map of the excitatory receptive field and its inhibitory surround. We find that attention systematically reshapes the receptive field profile, significantly and independently shifting both center and inhibitory surround towards the attended location. Furthermore, size of the cRF is changed as a function of relative distance of the attentional focus: attention inside the cRF shrinks it, while directing attention next to the cRF expands it. In addition, we find systematic changes in surround inhibition and cRF amplitude. This non-multiplicative push-pull modulation of the receptive field's center-surround structure by attention optimizes processing at and near the attentional focus to strengthen the representation of the attended stimulus while reducing influences from distractors. Conference: Bernstein Symposium 2008, Munich, Germany, 8 Oct - 10 Oct, 2008. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: All Abstracts Citation: Anton-Erxleben K, Stephan V and Treue S (2008). Attention reshapes center-surround receptive-field structure in Macaque cortical area MT. Front. Comput. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Bernstein Symposium 2008. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.10.2008.01.024 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 13 Nov 2008; Published Online: 13 Nov 2008. * Correspondence: Katharina Anton-Erxleben, German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany, k.antonerxleben@web.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Katharina Anton-Erxleben Valeska Stephan Stefan Treue Google Katharina Anton-Erxleben Valeska Stephan Stefan Treue Google Scholar Katharina Anton-Erxleben Valeska Stephan Stefan Treue PubMed Katharina Anton-Erxleben Valeska Stephan Stefan Treue Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.
Highlights
At any moment, we process only a small amount of the information captured by our sensors
For area MT, we recently showed that attentional modulation of cRF regions comprises a change in spatial summation but more prominently a shift of the receptive field profile (Womelsdorf et al 2006)
Center shifts were on average 10.1% of the receptive field diameter, whereas the surround profile shifted by twice this distance, 20.2% of the cRF diameter
Summary
We process only a small amount of the information captured by our sensors. Attention strengthens the representation of attended aspects of the visual scene across visual cortex by modulating responses of those neurons that are involved in processing these aspects (see Treue 2003; Serences and Yantis 2006, for reviews). Spatial attention selectively modulates firing rates of neurons with receptive fields overlapping the attended region in visual space (e.g., Treue and Maunsell 1996, 1999; Reynolds et al 2000; Williford and Maunsell 2004) and is evident in a spatially selective modulation of blood oxygen level--dependent responses (Tootell et al 1998; Brefczynski and DeYoe 1999). Half of MT surrounds seem to be spatially biased toward one side of the cRF rather than being arranged circularly around it (Xiao et al 1995; but see Tanaka et al 1986)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
