Illuminating the Neural Circuits Underlying Orienting of Attention

Posner, Michael I.; Niell, Cristopher M.

doi:10.3390/vision3010004

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…A major unanticipated result of this study was that, while suppression decreased accuracy, it had relatively little overall effect on RT. This was a surprising result since increasing task difficulty and distracting attention have been shown to increase RT and error in both rodents and humans (Beane and Marrocco, 2004; for review, see Posner and Niell, 2019). Manipulating neural activity through optogenetics is, of course, not something done in humans, thus complicating the comparison.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential Involvement of Three Brain Regions during Mouse Skill Learning

Weible¹,

Posner²,

Niell³

2019

eNeuro

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Human skill learning is marked by a gradual decrease in reaction time (RT) and errors as the skill is acquired. To better understand the influence of brain areas thought to be involved in skill learning, we trained mice to associate visual-spatial cues with specific motor behaviors for a water reward. Task acquisition occurred over weeks and performance approximated a power function as often found with human skill learning. Using optogenetics we suppressed the primary visual cortex (V1), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), or dorsal hippocampus (dHC) on 20% of trials at different stages of learning. Intermittent suppression of the V1 greatly reduced task performance on suppressed trials across multiple stages but did not change the overall rate of learning. In accord with some recent models of skill learning, ACC suppression produced higher error rates on suppressed trials throughout learning the skill, with effects intensifying in the later stages. This would suggest that cognitive influences mediated by the anterior cingulate continue throughout learning. Suppression of the hippocampus only modestly affected performance, with largely similar effects seen across stages. These results indicate different degrees of V1, ACC, and dHC involvement in acquisition and performance of this visual-spatial task and that the structures operate in parallel, and not in series, across learning stages.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential Involvement of Three Brain Regions during Mouse Skill Learning

Weible¹,

Posner²,

Niell³

2019

eNeuro

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“…Building on modern thinking regarding the "functional domain" organization of motor systems, we suggest that the frontal eye fields are part of a hub for a broader orienting network (Posner, 2016;Posner and Niell, 2019) that coordinates multiple effectors (eyes, head, arms) in the service of voluntary goal-directed action. Thus, we propose that it is out of this dorsal premotor, auditory-responsive, goal-directed orienting system that voluntary laryngeal control and the dPCSA evolved, perhaps initially serving a song-based adaptive function related to social bonding (Savage et al, 2021).…”

Section: The Premotor Cortex As a Hub For A Broader Goal-directed Ori...mentioning

confidence: 95%

Beyond Broca: neural architecture and evolution of a dual motor speech coordination system

Venezia

Teghipco

2022

Brain

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Classical neural architecture models of speech production propose a single system centered on Broca’s area coordinating all the vocal articulators from lips to larynx. Modern evidence has challenged both the idea that Broca’s area is involved in motor speech coordination and that there is only one coordination network. Drawing on a wide range of evidence, here we propose a dual speech coordination model in which laryngeal control of pitch-related aspects of prosody and song are coordinated by a hierarchically organized dorsolateral system while supralaryngeal articulation at the phonetic/syllabic level is coordinated by a more ventral system posterior to Broca’s area. We argue further that these two speech production subsystems have distinguishable evolutionary histories and discuss the implications for models of language evolution.

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“…The connection between the intensity of a stimulus and the focus of visual attention may not be determinate (even when the amplitude of a VEP correlates with stimulus intensity) [ 81 ], and many variables such as expectancy and affect drive the shape of the VEP. All these aspects aside, attention as a psychological variable notoriously challenges definition [ 82 , 83 ]. Moreover, some nervous activity is uncorrelated with the magnitude of stimulation [ 84 ], and VEP amplitude is only a statistical summary of synchronous neural activity [ 13 , 85 , 86 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual stimulus structure, visual system neural activity, and visual behavior in young human infants

Bornstein,

Mash,

Arterberry

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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In visual perception and information processing, a cascade of associations is hypothesized to flow from the structure of the visual stimulus to neural activity along the retinogeniculostriate visual system to behavior and action. Do visual perception and information processing adhere to this cascade near the beginning of life? To date, this three-stage hypothetical cascade has not been comprehensively tested in infants. In two related experiments, we attempted to expose this cascade in 6-month-old infants. Specifically, we presented infants with two levels of visual stimulus intensity, we measured electrical activity at the infant cortex, and we assessed infants’ preferential looking behavior. Chromatic saturation provided a convenient stimulus dimension to test the cascade because greater saturation is known to excite increased activity in the primate visual system and is generally hypothesized to stimulate visual preference. Experiment 1 revealed that infants prefer (look longer) at the more saturated of two colors otherwise matched in hue and brightness. Experiment 2 showed increased aggregate neural cortical excitation in infants (and adults) to the more saturated of the same pair of colors. Thus, experiments 1 and 2 taken together confirm a cascade: Visual stimulation of relatively greater intensity evokes relatively greater levels of bioelectrical cortical activity which in turn is associated with relatively greater visual attention. As this cascade obtains near the beginning of life, it helps to account for early visual preferences and visual information processing.

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Illuminating the Neural Circuits Underlying Orienting of Attention

Cited by 6 publications

References 38 publications

Differential Involvement of Three Brain Regions during Mouse Skill Learning

Differential Involvement of Three Brain Regions during Mouse Skill Learning

Beyond Broca: neural architecture and evolution of a dual motor speech coordination system

Visual stimulus structure, visual system neural activity, and visual behavior in young human infants

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