TY - JOUR
T1 - Descending control of neural bias and selectivity in a spatial attention network
T2 - Rules and mechanisms
AU - Mysore, Shreesh P.
AU - Knudsen, Eric I.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2014/10/1
Y1 - 2014/10/1
N2 - The brain integrates stimulus-driven (exogenous) activity with internally generated (endogenous) activity to compute the highest priority stimulus for gaze and attention. Little is known about how this computation is accomplished neurally. We explored the underlying functional logic in a critical component of the spatial attention network, the optic tectum (OT, superior colliculus in mammals), in awake barn owls. We found that space-specific endogenous influences, evoked by activating descending forebrain pathways, bias competition among exogenous influences, and substantially enhance the quality of the categorical neural pointer to the highest priority stimulus. These endogenous influences operate across sensory modalities. Biologically grounded modeling revealed that the observed effects on network bias and selectivity require a simple circuit mechanism: endogenously driven gain modulation of feedback inhibition among competing channels. Our findings reveal fundamental principles by which internal and external information combine to guide selection of the next target for gaze and attention.
AB - The brain integrates stimulus-driven (exogenous) activity with internally generated (endogenous) activity to compute the highest priority stimulus for gaze and attention. Little is known about how this computation is accomplished neurally. We explored the underlying functional logic in a critical component of the spatial attention network, the optic tectum (OT, superior colliculus in mammals), in awake barn owls. We found that space-specific endogenous influences, evoked by activating descending forebrain pathways, bias competition among exogenous influences, and substantially enhance the quality of the categorical neural pointer to the highest priority stimulus. These endogenous influences operate across sensory modalities. Biologically grounded modeling revealed that the observed effects on network bias and selectivity require a simple circuit mechanism: endogenously driven gain modulation of feedback inhibition among competing channels. Our findings reveal fundamental principles by which internal and external information combine to guide selection of the next target for gaze and attention.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.08.019
DO - 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.08.019
M3 - Article
C2 - 25220813
AN - SCOPUS:84907997850
SN - 0896-6273
VL - 84
SP - 214
EP - 226
JO - Neuron
JF - Neuron
IS - 1
ER -