A causal role for the pulvinar in coordinating task‐independent cortico–cortical interactions

Eradath, Manoj K.; Pinsk, Mark A.; Kästner, Sabine

doi:10.1002/cne.25193

Cited by 25 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 94 publications

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“…Second, thalamus provides a good fit to the interfacing role, as thalamus and cortical areas are reciprocally connected in a shallow hierarchy [34]. Third, in line with our lesion studies, the relationship between thalamic and cortical activity is a causal one [46]. And fourth, the featureless, taskdependent representation employed by the proxy nodes of the interfacing module, fits well with the identified role of thalamic function in attentional selection [47,48].…”

Section: Incremental Binding Could Be Explained By An Interplay Of Co...supporting

confidence: 75%

Thalamo-Cortical Interaction for Incremental Binding in Mental Contour-Tracing

Schmid,

Neumann

2023

Preprint

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Visual object-based attention marks a key process of mammalian perception. By which mechanisms this process is implemented and how it can be interacted with by means of attentional control is not completely understood yet. Incremental binding is a mechanism required in more demanding scenarios of object-based attention and is likewise experimentally investigated quite well. Attention spreads across a representation of the visual object and labels bound elements by constant up-modulation of neural activity. The speed of incremental binding was found to be dependent on the spatial arrangement of distracting elements in the scene and to be scale invariant giving rise to the growth-cone hypothesis. In this work, we propose a neural dynamical model of incremental binding that provides a mechanistic account for these findings. Through simulations, we investigate the model properties and demonstrate how an attentional spreading mechanism tags neurons that participate in the object binding process. They utilize Gestalt properties and eventually show growth-cone characteristics labeling perceptual items by delayed activity enhancement of neuronal firing rates. We discuss the algorithmic process underlying incremental binding and relate it to the model’s computation. This theoretical investigation encompasses complexity considerations and finds the model to be not only of explanatory value in terms of neurohpysiological evidence, but also to be an efficient implementation of incremental binding striving to establish a normative account. By relating the connectivity motifs of the model to neuroanatomical evidence, we suggest thalamo-cortical interactions to be a likely candidate for the flexible and efficient realization suggested by the model. There, pyramidal cells are proposed to serve as the processors of incremental grouping information. Local bottom-up evidence about stimulus features is integrated via basal dendritic sites. It is combined with an apical signal consisting of contextual grouping information which is gated by attentional task-relevance selection mediated via higher-order thalamic representations.Author SummaryUnderstanding a visual scene requires us to tell apart visual objects from one another. Object-based attention is the process by which mammals achieve this. Mental processing of object components determines whether they are compatible to the overall object and, thus, should be grouped together to be perceived as a whole or not. For complicated objects, this processing needs to happen serially, determining the compatibility step by step. In this work, we propose a neural model of this process and try to answer the question of how it might be implemented in the brain. We test the model on a case of object-based attention for grouping elongated lines and compare it to the available experimental evidence. We additionally show that the model not only explains this evidence, but it does so also by spending neurons and connections efficiently — a property likewise desirable for brains and machines. Together, these findings suggest which brain areas might be involved in realizing this process and how to reason about the complexity of this computation.

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Section: Incremental Binding Could Be Explained By An Interplay Of Co...supporting

confidence: 75%

Thalamo-Cortical Interaction for Incremental Binding in Mental Contour-Tracing

Schmid,

Neumann

2023

Preprint

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“…In nonhuman primates, the lateral pulvinar has been shown to facilitate communication between the visual region V4 and higher order cortical regions. These include the lateral intraparietal area 53 and the temporo-occipital area 54 , regions that are engaged in visual attention tasks. Indeed, there is growing evidence that the secondary nuclei may function as hubs for cortico-cortical communication 23,55,56 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attentional modulation of secondary somatosensory and visual thalamus of mice

Petty,

Bruno

2024

Preprint

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Each sensory modality has its own primary and secondary thalamic nuclei. While the primary thalamic nuclei are well understood to relay sensory information from the periphery to the cortex, the role of secondary sensory nuclei is elusive. One hypothesis has been that secondary nuclei may support feature-based attention. If this is true, one would also expect the activity in different nuclei to reflect the degree to which modalities are or are not behaviorally relevant in a task. We trained head-fixed mice to attend to one sensory modality while ignoring a second modality, namely to attend to touch and ignore vision, or vice versa. Arrays were used to record simultaneously from secondary somatosensory thalamus (POm) and secondary visual thalamus (LP). In mice trained to respond to tactile stimuli and ignore visual stimuli, POm was robustly activated by touch and largely unresponsive to visual stimuli. A different pattern was observed when mice were trained to respond to visual stimuli and ignore touch, with POm now more robustly activated during visual trials. This POm activity was not explained by differences in movements (i.e., whisking, licking, pupil dilation) resulting from the two tasks. Post hoc histological reconstruction of array tracks through POm revealed that subregions varied in their degree of plasticity. LP exhibited similar phenomena. We conclude that behavioral training reshapes activity in secondary thalamic nuclei. Secondary nuclei may respond to behaviorally relevant, reward-predicting stimuli regardless of stimulus modality.

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“…While a decision maker is confronted with the complex task of sampling as much information as possible about each decision alternative and at the same the need to compare different options this conflict is resolved through rhythmicity 14,26 . By oscillating the attention strength, a feature potentially established through cortico-thalamic connections 30,[58][59][60] , reorienting and focusing modes of attention can be temporally multiplexed within each oscillatory cycle. Thus, focused information sampling can alternate with spatial re-allocation of the attentional spotlight without competing for the same cognitive resources.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rhythmic sampling of multiple decision alternatives in the human brain

Siems,

Cao,

Tohidi-Moghaddam

et al. 2023

Preprint

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SummaryDuring decision-making attention plays a pivotal role by guiding information sampling between alternatives. We need to optimally encode different options and compare between them. So far the role of attention in decision-making has only been addressed through saccadic displacements. However, looking is not always attending and attending not always looking. The influence of covert attention on decision-making is poorly understood. Here, we combined a three-alternative perceptual choice task with magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings to chart covert attention during decision-formation. We found that rhythmic attentional sampling is a neurophysiological mechanism that can temporally disentangle the conflict between focusing and reorienting attention in decision-making. Embedded within an 11Hz oscillation focused processing and reorienting appeared at the peak and trough of the attention oscillation. Reorienting further intrinsically reset the oscillation and covert attention was dissociable from oculomotor activity. We thus propose that (covert) rhythmic sampling is a general cognitive mechanism harnessed to orchestrate flexible information processing in multi-alternative decisions.Highlights‐Assessing covert attention in multi-alternative decision-making with magnetoencephalography (MEG)‐Rhythmic sampling as mechanism orchestrating attention between alternatives‐Focused information sampling alternates with attention switching between decision alternatives‐Covert attention allocation dissociates from oculomotor activity

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A causal role for the pulvinar in coordinating task‐independent cortico–cortical interactions

Cited by 25 publications

References 94 publications

Thalamo-Cortical Interaction for Incremental Binding in Mental Contour-Tracing

Thalamo-Cortical Interaction for Incremental Binding in Mental Contour-Tracing

Attentional modulation of secondary somatosensory and visual thalamus of mice

Rhythmic sampling of multiple decision alternatives in the human brain

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