Directional Signals in the Prefrontal Cortex and in Area MT during a Working Memory for Visual Motion Task

Zaksas, Daniel; Pasternak, Tatiana

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3420-06.2006

Cited by 230 publications

(239 citation statements)

References 75 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

199

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Both in Experiment 1 and 2 controls for the confounding factor motion coherence (Figs 6b and 9b) made it improbable that the late ERP dissociation represented more frontal contributions to working memory for visual motion observed in previous moving random-dot experiments 27 . Rather one may well ask whether electrophysiological or imaging findings are-at least for comparable discrimination tasks-confounded by correlates of subjective confidence in the perceptual decision.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Cortical representations of confidence in a visual perceptual decision

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To date the exact neuronal implementation of decision confidence has been subject to little research. Here we explore electroencephalographic correlates of human choice certainty in a visual motion discrimination task for either spatial attention or motor effector cue instructions. We demonstrate electrophysiological correlates of choice certainty that evolve as early as 300 ms after stimulus onset and resemble the primary visual motion representations in early visual cortex. These correlates do not emerge unless or until the subject unambiguously knows which of the competing visual stimuli is actually relevant to behaviour. They extend beyond stimulus presentation up to the motor response but are independent of the motor effector. Our findings suggest that perceptual confidence evolves in parallel with representations of stimulus properties and is dedicated to one specific aspect of the visual world. Its electroencephalographic correlates can be disentangled from representations of sensory evidence, objective discrimination performance and overt motor behaviour.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Cortical representations of confidence in a visual perceptual decision

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…B 372: 20160111 execute cognitive functions is related to the interindividual variability in the perception of visual motion. As described above, the neurons in the PFC (BA 46) exhibit motion sensitivity [38,39] and function to allocate attention to a visual target in the object-centred coordinate [36,37], while a higherorder, attention-driven motion mechanism functioning on the spatiotopic coordinate would be responsible for the induction of motion assimilation [12,21,22]. Additionally, a relationship between Glx concentrations and the function of attention has been found in adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) [40] or autism spectrum disorders (ASD) [41].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Thus, we examined whether neurotransmitter concentrations in the dorsolateral PFC (Brodmann area BA 46) are correlated with individual differences in motion perception. We targeted this area because neurons inside are involved in attention allocation to a target in an object-centred coordinate [35,36], they are connected with the visual areas including the MT [37], and they encode both visual motion direction and speed information [38,39]. We expected that the Glx is important because its concentration has been shown to be related to the attentional status [40,41], which could affect perception of motion assimilation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual differences in visual motion perception and neurotransmitter concentrations in the human brain

Takeuchi

Yoshimoto

Shimada³

et al. 2017

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One contribution of 15 to a theme issue 'Auditory and visual scene analysis'. Recent studies have shown that interindividual variability can be a rich source of information regarding the mechanism of human visual perception. In this study, we examined the mechanisms underlying interindividual variability in the perception of visual motion, one of the fundamental components of visual scene analysis, by measuring neurotransmitter concentrations using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. First, by psychophysically examining two types of motion phenomena-motion assimilation and contrast-we found that, following the presentation of the same stimulus, some participants perceived motion assimilation, while others perceived motion contrast. Furthermore, we found that the concentration of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate-glutamine (Glx) in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann area 46) was positively correlated with the participant's tendency to motion assimilation over motion contrast; however, this effect was not observed in the visual areas. The concentration of the inhibitory neurotransmitter g-aminobutyric acid had only a weak effect compared with that of Glx. We conclude that excitatory process in the suprasensory area is important for an individual's tendency to determine antagonistically perceived visual motion phenomena.This article is part of the themed issue 'Auditory and visual scene analysis'.

show abstract

“…Recent recordings from the PFC during motion discrimination tasks revealed direction-selective (DS) responses that depended on behavioral context, shedding light on the nature of the top-down signals PFC is likely to provide (3,4). These and other studies (e.g., ref.…”

mentioning

confidence: 79%

“…Stimuli, behavioral tasks, and physiological recordings have been described in previous studies (3,4). Specific methodological details relevant to the current study can be found in SI Materials and Methods.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trial-to-trial variability of the prefrontal neurons reveals the nature of their engagement in a motion discrimination task

Hussar

Pasternak

2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

During motion discrimination tasks, many prefrontal cortex (PFC) neurons are strongly modulated by the behavioral context, suggesting their involvement in sensory discriminations. Recent studies suggest that trial-to-trial variability of spiking activity characteristic of cortical neurons could be a source of information about the state of neurons and their participation in behavioral tasks. We tested this hypothesis by examining the variability of putative pyramidal PFC neurons, a likely source of top-down influences. The variability of these neurons was calculated as a ratio of spike count variance to its mean (fano factor, FF), while monkeys compared the directions of two moving stimuli, sample and test, separated by a delay. We found that the FF tracked consecutive components of the task, dropping rapidly with the onset of stimuli being discriminated and declining more slowly before each salient event of the trial: The sample, the test, and the response. These time-dependent signals were less consistent in direction selective neurons and were largely absent during passive fixation. Furthermore, neurons with test responses that reflected the remembered sample decreased their FF well before the test, revealing the predictive nature of response variability, an effect present only during the active task. The FF was also sensitive to behavioral performance, exhibiting different temporal dynamics on error trials. These changes did not depend on firing rates and were often the only metric correlated with task demands. Our results demonstrate that trial-to-trial variability provides a sensitive measure of the engagement of putative pyramidal PFC neurons in circuits subserving discrimination tasks. direction discrimination | direction selectivity | macaque monkey | working memory N eurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) are thought to play a key role in cognitive control and to exert top-down influences on sensory cortical regions with which they are reciprocally connected (1, 2). Recent recordings from the PFC during motion discrimination tasks revealed direction-selective (DS) responses that depended on behavioral context, shedding light on the nature of the top-down signals PFC is likely to provide (3, 4). These and other studies (e.g., ref. 5) demonstrating the involvement of the PFC in visual discrimination tasks based their conclusions on the analysis of average firing rates over repeated trial conditions. Indeed, the average rate of action potentials has proven to be a remarkably useful measure of neural activity that not only encodes a broad range of stimulus and response dimensions but also correlates with more cognitive aspects of behavior, such as memory storage, anticipation, reward, and decision.However, there is mounting evidence that the mean firing rate is not the only measure of how neurons are affected by external events. Recent theoretical and experimental studies provide evidence that trial-by-trial variability in activity characteristic of cortical neurons (6) may also be a source of information a...

show abstract

Directional Signals in the Prefrontal Cortex and in Area MT during a Working Memory for Visual Motion Task

Cited by 230 publications

References 75 publications

Cortical representations of confidence in a visual perceptual decision

Cortical representations of confidence in a visual perceptual decision

Individual differences in visual motion perception and neurotransmitter concentrations in the human brain

Trial-to-trial variability of the prefrontal neurons reveals the nature of their engagement in a motion discrimination task

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About