Abstract
Author SummaryTo navigate within an environment filled with sensory stimuli, the brain must selectively process only the most relevant sensory information. Identifying and shifting attention to the most relevant sensory stimulus requires integrating information about its sensory features as well as its relative value, that is, whether it's worth noticing. In this study, we describe groups of neurons in the monkey prefrontal cortex that convey signals relating to the value of a stimulus and its defining feature and location at the very moment when attention is shifted to the stimulus. We found that signals conveying information about value were clustered in a ventromedial prefrontal region, and were separated from sensory signals within the anterior cingulate cortex and the lateral prefrontal cortex. The integration of valuation and other “top-down” processes, however, was achieved by neurons clustered at the intersection of ventromedial, anterior cingulate, and lateral prefrontal cortex. We conclude that valuation processes are recruited when attention is shifted, independent of any overt behavior. Moreover, our analysis suggests that valuation processes can bias the initiation of attention shifts, as well as ensure sustained attentional focusing.
Highlights
Selective attention prioritizes the processing of behaviorally relevant stimuli, at the expense of processing irrelevant stimuli [1]
We describe groups of neurons in the monkey prefrontal cortex that convey signals relating to the value of a stimulus and its defining feature and location at the very moment when attention is shifted to the stimulus
We found that signals conveying information about value were clustered in a ventromedial prefrontal region, and were separated from sensory signals within the anterior cingulate cortex and the lateral prefrontal cortex
Summary
Selective attention prioritizes the processing of behaviorally relevant stimuli, at the expense of processing irrelevant stimuli [1]. Recent evidence suggests that brain circuitry learns and processes the values associated with stimuli automatically, effectively biasing attentional stimulus selection towards more valuable stimuli in our environments [2,3,4] In addition to such an involuntary capture of attention, the associated value of a stimulus has been suggested to be a critical feature that guides voluntary top-down deployment of attention [5]. Consistent with this suggestion, top-down control of attention has been shown to be facilitated and slowed down when target and distracting stimuli, respectively, are associated with a higher positive value [4,6,7,8,9,10]. These behavioral findings suggest that stimulus valuation processes are a fundamental component of attentional top-down control and are integrated with attentional rule information that specifies to which stimulus or location attention will be shifted in response to environmental cues [11,12]
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