Feature-based attention induces surround suppression during the perception of visual motion

AbstractAttention to a stimulus feature prioritizes its processing while strongly suppressing the processing of similar features, a non-linear phenomenon called surround suppression. Here we investigated this phenomenon using neurophysiology and psychophysics. We recorded responses of motion direction-selective neurons in area MT/MST of monkeys in different conditions. When attention was allocated to a stimulus moving in the neurons’ preferred direction responses to a distractor were strongly suppressed for directions nearby the preferred direction. These effects were modeled as the interaction between two Gaussian fields representing narrowly-tuned excitatory and widely-tuned inhibitory inputs into a neuron, with attention more strongly modulating the gain of the inhibitory inputs. We additionally demonstrated a corresponding behavioral effect in humans: Feature-based attention strongly reduced motion repulsion in the vicinity of the attended motion direction. Our results demonstrate that feature-based attention can induce non-linear changes in neuronal tuning curves via unbalanced gain changes to excitatory and inhibitory inputs into neurons ultimately translating into similar effects during behavior.

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Combined effects of feature-based working memory and feature-based attention on the perception of visual motion direction

Journal of Vision ◽

10.1167/11.1.11 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 11-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

D. Mendoza ◽

M. Schneiderman ◽

C. Kaul ◽

J. Martinez-Trujillo

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Visual Motion ◽

Combined Effects ◽

Motion Direction ◽

Feature Based

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Feature-based attention causes a ring-like modulation of motion direction tuning curves in areas MT and MST of macaques

Journal of Vision ◽

10.1167/18.10.970 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (10) ◽

pp. 970

Author(s):

Sang-Ah Yoo ◽

Julio Martinez-Trujillo ◽

Stefan Treue ◽

John Tsotsos ◽

Mazyar Fallah

Keyword(s):

Motion Direction ◽

Tuning Curves ◽

Feature Based ◽

Direction Tuning

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Increasing the Spatial Extent of Attention Strengthens Surround Suppression

10.1101/2021.11.26.470072 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Merve Kiniklioglu ◽

Huseyin Boyaci

Keyword(s):

Spatial Attention ◽

Visual Motion ◽

Neuronal Response ◽

Critical Role ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Motion Processing ◽

Surround Suppression ◽

Attention Condition ◽

Motion Direction ◽

Visual Motion Processing

Here we investigate how the extent of spatial attention affects center-surround interaction in visual motion processing. To do so, we measured motion direction discrimination thresholds in humans using drifting gratings and two attention conditions. Under the narrow attention condition, attention was limited to the central part of the visual stimulus, whereas under the wide attention condition, it was directed to both the center and surround of the stimulus. We found stronger surround suppression under the wide attention condition. The magnitude of the attention effect increased with the size of the surround when the stimulus had low contrast, but did not change when it had high contrast. Results also showed that attention had a weaker effect when the center and surround gratings drifted in opposite directions. Next, to establish a link between the behavioral results and the neuronal response characteristics, we performed computer simulations using the divisive normalization model. Our simulations showed that the model can successfully predict the observed behavioral results using parameters derived from the medial temporal (MT) area of the cortex. These findings reveal the critical role of spatial attention on surround suppression and establish a link between neuronal activity and behavior. Further, these results also suggest that the reduced surround suppression found in certain clinical disorders (e.g., schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder) may be caused by abnormal attention mechanisms.

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An XYZ Parallel Kinematic Flexure Mechanism With Geometrically Decoupled Degrees of Freedom

Volume 6: 35th Mechanisms and Robotics Conference, Parts A and B ◽

10.1115/detc2011-47713 ◽

2011 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Shorya Awtar ◽

John Ustick ◽

Shiladitya Sen

Keyword(s):

Degrees Of Freedom ◽

Element Analysis ◽

Motion Direction ◽

Form Analysis ◽

Flexure Mechanism ◽

Non Linear ◽

Decoupled Motion ◽

Motion Range ◽

Parallel Kinematic ◽

Cross Axis

We present the constraint-based design of a novel parallel kinematic flexure mechanism that provides highly decoupled motions along the three translational directions (X, Y, and Z) and high stiffness along the three rotational directions (θx, θy, and θz). The geometric decoupling ensures large motion range along each translational direction and enables integration with large-stroke ground-mounted linear actuators or generators, depending on the application. The proposed design, which is based on a systematic arrangement of multiple rigid stages and parallelogram flexure modules, is analyzed via non-linear finite element analysis. A proof-of-concept prototype of the flexure mechanism is fabricated to validate its large range and decoupled motion capability. The analyses as well as the hardware demonstrate an XYZ motion range of 10 mm × 10 mm × 10 mm. Over this motion range, the non-linear FEA predicts a cross-axis error of less than 3%, parasitic rotations less than 2 mrad, less than 4% lost motion, actuator isolation less than 1.5%, and no perceptible motion direction stiffness variation. Ongoing work includes non-linear closed-form analysis and experimental measurement of these error motion and stiffness characteristics.

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Data visualization through non linear dimensionality reduction using feature based Ricci flow embedding

Multimedia Tools and Applications ◽

10.1007/s11042-021-11479-7 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Adarsh Prasad Behera ◽

Jagriti Singh ◽

Shekhar Verma ◽

Manish Kumar

Keyword(s):

Dimensionality Reduction ◽

Data Visualization ◽

Ricci Flow ◽

Non Linear ◽

Feature Based ◽

Linear Dimensionality Reduction

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Moderate acute alcohol intoxication has minimal effect on surround suppression measured with a motion direction discrimination task

Journal of Vision ◽

10.1167/15.1.5 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 5-5 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

J. C. A. Read ◽

R. Georgiou ◽

C. Brash ◽

P. Yazdani ◽

R. Whittaker ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Discrimination Task ◽

Alcohol Intoxication ◽

Acute Alcohol Intoxication ◽

Minimal Effect ◽

Surround Suppression ◽

Motion Direction ◽

Direction Discrimination

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Statistical assessment of the stability of neural movement representations

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00626.2010 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 106 (2) ◽

pp. 764-774 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

Ian H. Stevenson ◽

Anil Cherian ◽

Brian M. London ◽

Nicholas A. Sachs ◽

Eric Lindberg ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

Tuning Curve ◽

Modulation Depth ◽

Measurement Noise ◽

Neural Representation ◽

Experimental Conditions ◽

Sensory Stimuli ◽

Tuning Curves ◽

Dynamic Tuning ◽

Preferred Direction

In systems neuroscience, neural activity that represents movements or sensory stimuli is often characterized by spatial tuning curves that may change in response to training, attention, altered mechanics, or the passage of time. A vital step in determining whether tuning curves change is accounting for estimation uncertainty due to measurement noise. In this study, we address the issue of tuning curve stability using methods that take uncertainty directly into account. We analyze data recorded from neurons in primary motor cortex using chronically implanted, multielectrode arrays in four monkeys performing center-out reaching. With the use of simulations, we demonstrate that under typical experimental conditions, the effect of neuronal noise on estimated preferred direction can be quite large and is affected by both the amount of data and the modulation depth of the neurons. In experimental data, we find that after taking uncertainty into account using bootstrapping techniques, the majority of neurons appears to be very stable on a timescale of minutes to hours. Lastly, we introduce adaptive filtering methods to explicitly model dynamic tuning curves. In contrast to several previous findings suggesting that tuning curves may be in constant flux, we conclude that the neural representation of limb movement is, on average, quite stable and that impressions to the contrary may be largely the result of measurement noise.

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Neural selectivity for visual motion in macaque area V3A

10.1101/2020.09.15.298349 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Nardin Nakhla ◽

Yavar Korkian ◽

Matthew R. Krause ◽

Christopher C. Pack

Keyword(s):

Visual Cortex ◽

Optic Flow ◽

Functional Role ◽

Visual Motion ◽

Flow Patterns ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Direction Selectivity ◽

Motion Processing ◽

Imaging Studies ◽

Motion Direction

AbstractThe processing of visual motion is carried out by dedicated pathways in the primate brain. These pathways originate with populations of direction-selective neurons in the primary visual cortex, which project to dorsal structures like the middle temporal (MT) and medial superior temporal (MST) areas. Anatomical and imaging studies have suggested that area V3A might also be specialized for motion processing, but there have been very few studies of single-neuron direction selectivity in this area. We have therefore performed electrophysiological recordings from V3A neurons in two macaque monkeys (one male and one female) and measured responses to a large battery of motion stimuli that includes translation motion, as well as more complex optic flow patterns. For comparison, we simultaneously recorded the responses of MT neurons to the same stimuli. Surprisingly, we find that overall levels of direction selectivity are similar in V3A and MT and moreover that the population of V3A neurons exhibits somewhat greater selectivity for optic flow patterns. These results suggest that V3A should be considered as part of the motion processing machinery of the visual cortex, in both human and non-human primates.Significance statementAlthough area V3A is frequently the target of anatomy and imaging studies, little is known about its functional role in processing visual stimuli. Its contribution to motion processing has been particularly unclear, with different studies yielding different conclusions. We report a detailed study of direction selectivity in V3A. Our results show that single V3A neurons are, on average, as capable of representing motion direction as are neurons in well-known structures like MT. Moreover, we identify a possible specialization for V3A neurons in representing complex optic flow, which has previously been thought to emerge in higher-order brain regions. Thus it appears that V3A is well-suited to a functional role in motion processing.

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