Cell-Type-Specific Synchronization of Neural Activity in FEF with V4 during Attention

• Published in: Neuron (Cambridge, Mass.) Mass.), 2012-02, Vol.73 (3), p.581-594
• Main Authors: Gregoriou, Georgia G., Gotts, Stephen J., Desimone, Robert
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Action Potentials - physiology; Animals; Attention; Attention - physiology; Behavior, Animal; Color; Eye movements; Macaca mulatta; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Memory - physiology; Neurons; Neurons - physiology; Neuropsychological Tests; Photic Stimulation; Reaction Time; Saccades; Spectrum Analysis; Statistics as Topic; Visual Cortex - cytology; Visual Cortex - physiology; Visual Fields - physiology; Visual task performance
• ISSN: 0896-6273; 1097-4199
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2011.12.019

Shifts of gaze and shifts of attention are closely linked and it is debated whether they result from the same neural mechanisms. Both processes involve the frontal eye fields (FEF), an area which is also a source of top-down feedback to area V4 during covert attention. To test the relative contributions of oculomotor and attention-related FEF signals to such feedback, we recorded simultaneously from both areas in a covert attention task and in a saccade task. In the attention task, only visual and visuomovement FEF neurons showed enhanced responses, whereas movement cells were unchanged. Importantly, visual, but not movement or visuomovement cells, showed enhanced gamma frequency synchronization with activity in V4 during attention. Within FEF, beta synchronization was increased for movement cells during attention but was suppressed in the saccade task. These findings support the idea that the attentional modulation of visual processing is not mediated by movement neurons. ► Only FEF neurons with visual responses increase their firing rate with attention ► Only visual FEF cells show enhanced gamma synchronization with V4 during attention ► Within FEF movement cells show enhanced beta synchronization with attention ► Movement FEF cells show decreased beta synchronization with preparation for saccades Within the frontal eye fields (FEF) only neurons with visual activity send attentional signals to the visual cortex, and attentional modulation of visual processing is not mediated by FEF movement neurons. Thus, shifts of attention and gaze can be dissociated at the cellular level.