Effects of attention on the reliability of individual neurons in monkey visual cortex

To determine the physiological mechanisms underlying the enhancement of performance by attention, we examined how attention affects the ability of isolated neurons to discriminate orientation by investigating the reliability of responses with and without attention. Recording from 262 neurons in cort...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuron (Cambridge, Mass.) Mass.), 1999-08, Vol.23 (4), p.765-773
Main Authors: McAdams, C J, Maunsell, J H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Attention - physiology
Discrimination (Psychology) - physiology
Electrophysiology
Macaca mulatta
Microelectrodes
Neurons - physiology
Orientation - physiology
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Time Factors
Visual Cortex - cytology
Visual Cortex - physiology
Visual Fields - physiology
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Summary:To determine the physiological mechanisms underlying the enhancement of performance by attention, we examined how attention affects the ability of isolated neurons to discriminate orientation by investigating the reliability of responses with and without attention. Recording from 262 neurons in cortical area V4 while two rhesus macaques did a delayed match-to-sample task with oriented stimuli, we found that attention did not produce detectable changes in the variability of neuronal responses but did improve the orientation discriminability of the neurons. We also found that attention did not change the relationship between burst rate and response rate. Our results are consistent with the idea that attention selects groups of neurons for a multiplicative enhancement in response strength.
ISSN:0896-6273
DOI:10.1016/s0896-6273(01)80034-9