scholarly journals Analysis of spiking synchrony in visual cortex reveals distinct types of top-down modulation signals for spatial and object-based attention

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. e1008829
Author(s):  
Nobuhiko Wagatsuma ◽  
Brian Hu ◽  
Rüdiger von der Heydt ◽  
Ernst Niebur
Keyword(s):  
Perceptual Grouping ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Spike Trains ◽  
Visual Object ◽  
Foreground Object ◽  
Attentional State ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Classical Receptive Field ◽  
Object Based ◽  
Cross Correlations

The activity of a border ownership selective (BOS) neuron indicates where a foreground object is located relative to its (classical) receptive field (RF). A population of BOS neurons thus provides an important component of perceptual grouping, the organization of the visual scene into objects. In previous theoretical work, it has been suggested that this grouping mechanism is implemented by a population of dedicated grouping (“G”) cells that integrate the activity of the distributed feature cells representing an object and, by feedback, modulate the same cells, thus making them border ownership selective. The feedback modulation by G cells is thought to also provide the mechanism for object-based attention. A recent modeling study showed that modulatory common feedback, implemented by synapses with N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-type glutamate receptors, accounts for the experimentally observed synchrony in spike trains of BOS neurons and the shape of cross-correlations between them, including its dependence on the attentional state. However, that study was limited to pairs of BOS neurons with consistent border ownership preferences, defined as two neurons tuned to respond to the same visual object, in which attention decreases synchrony. But attention has also been shown to increase synchrony in neurons with inconsistent border ownership selectivity. Here we extend the computational model from the previous study to fully understand these effects of attention. We postulate the existence of a second type of G-cell that represents spatial attention by modulating the activity of all BOS cells in a spatially defined area. Simulations of this model show that a combination of spatial and object-based mechanisms fully accounts for the observed pattern of synchrony between BOS neurons. Our results suggest that modulatory feedback from G-cells may underlie both spatial and object-based attention.

scholarly journals Top-down biasing signals of non-spatial, object-based attention

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 1395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Baldauf
Keyword(s):  
Top Down ◽  
Spatial Object ◽  
Object Based

Top-Down Biasing and Modulation for Object-Based Visual Attention

2013 ◽  
pp. 325-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alcides Xavier Benicasa ◽  
Marcos G. Quiles ◽  
Liang Zhao ◽  
Roseli A. F. Romero
Keyword(s):  
Visual Attention ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Object Based

scholarly journals Reconstructing neuronal circuitry from parallel spike trains

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryota Kobayashi ◽  
Shuhei Kurita ◽  
Anno Kurth ◽  
Katsunori Kitano ◽  
Kenji Mizuseki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Generalized Linear Model ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Synthetic Data ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Spike Trains ◽  
Circuit Diagram ◽  
Estimation Errors ◽  
Neuronal Circuitry ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Cross Correlations

Abstract State-of-the-art techniques allow researchers to record large numbers of spike trains in parallel for many hours. With enough such data, we should be able to infer the connectivity among neurons. Here we develop a method for reconstructing neuronal circuitry by applying a generalized linear model (GLM) to spike cross-correlations. Our method estimates connections between neurons in units of postsynaptic potentials and the amount of spike recordings needed to verify connections. The performance of inference is optimized by counting the estimation errors using synthetic data. This method is superior to other established methods in correctly estimating connectivity. By applying our method to rat hippocampal data, we show that the types of estimated connections match the results inferred from other physiological cues. Thus our method provides the means to build a circuit diagram from recorded spike trains, thereby providing a basis for elucidating the differences in information processing in different brain regions.

Synaptic Depression Leads to Nonmonotonic Frequency Dependence in the Coincidence Detector

2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 2339-2358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shawn Mikula ◽  
Ernst Niebur
Keyword(s):  
Synaptic Depression ◽  
Spike Trains ◽  
Input Rate ◽  
Output Rate ◽  
Coincidence Detector ◽  
Perfect Correlation ◽  
Zero Correlation ◽  
Cross Correlations ◽  
Input Spike ◽  
Special Case

In this letter, we extend our previous analytical results (Mikula & Niebur, 2003) for the coincidence detector by taking into account probabilistic frequency-dependent synaptic depression. We present a solution for the steady-state output rate of an ideal coincidence detector receiving an arbitrary number of input spike trains with identical binomial count distributions (which includes Poisson statistics as a special case) and identical arbitrary pairwise cross-correlations, from zero correlation (independent processes) to perfect correlation (identical processes). Synapses vary their efficacy probabilistically according to the observed depression mechanisms. Our results show that synaptic depression, if made sufficiently strong, will result in an inverted U-shaped curve for the output rate of a coincidence detector as a function of input rate. This leads to the counterintuitive prediction that higher presynaptic (input) rates may lead to lower postsynaptic (output) rates where the output rate may fall faster than the inverse of the input rate.

scholarly journals Age-Related Changes in the Neural Dynamics of Bottom-Up and Top-Down Processing During Visual Object Recognition: An Electrophysiological Investigation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Y. Lai ◽  
Romy Frömer ◽  
Elena K. Festa ◽  
William C. Heindel
Keyword(s):  
Object Recognition ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Semantic Integration ◽  
Object Identification ◽  
Neural Dynamics ◽  
Visual Object ◽  
Elderly Adults ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Increased Sensitivity

ABSTRACTWhen recognizing objects in our environments, we rely on both what we see and what we know. While elderly adults have been found to display increased sensitivity to top-down influences of contextual information during object recognition, the locus of this increased sensitivity remains unresolved. To address this issue, we examined the effects of aging on the neural dynamics of bottom-up and top-down visual processing during rapid object recognition. Specific EEG ERP components indexing bottom-up and top-down processes along the visual processing stream were assessed while systematically manipulating the degree of object ambiguity and scene context congruity. An increase in early attentional feedback mechanisms (as indexed by N1) as well as a functional reallocation of executive attentional resources (as indexed by P200) prior to object identification were observed in elderly adults, while post-perceptual semantic integration (as indexed by N400) remained intact. These findings suggest that compromised bottom-up perceptual processing of visual input in healthy aging leads to an increased involvement of top-down processes to resolve greater perceptual ambiguity during object recognition.

scholarly journals Effects of bottom-up input and top-down expectation on object-based attention

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 1076-1076
Author(s):  
M.-C. Ho ◽  
S.-L. Yeh
Keyword(s):  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Object Based

Wholist–analytic cognitive styles modulate object-based attentional selection

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (10) ◽  
pp. 1596-1604
Author(s):  
Saisai Hu ◽  
Meiyu Liu ◽  
Yonghui Wang ◽  
Jingjing Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Style ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Perceptual Grouping ◽  
Cognitive Styles ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Object Based ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Analytic Cognitive Style ◽  
Individual Strategies

Previous studies have shown that individual difference plays an important role in the object-based cueing effect observed in experiments on attentional selection. A wide range of studies have also used the theory of cognitive style to explain individual strategies in most cognitive processes. However, the characteristics of individuals that modulate object-based attentional selection are still unclear. To investigate the modulation of object-based attention by cognitive style, this study used a classic two-rectangle paradigm and compared space-based effects and object-based effects for individuals who had been preselected as wholists or analysts in terms of cognitive style. The results revealed that a space-based effect was obtained for both wholist and analytic individuals. However, an object-based effect was obtained only for analysts and not wholists, regardless of object orientation. The results further indicated that a wholist versus analytic cognitive style can modulate object-based attention by way of perceptual grouping. Our study provides the first evidence that object-based attention can indeed be influenced by individual characteristics and extends traditional model of cognitive style by indicating that wholist individuals tend to group two or more objects in a scene into one larger gestalt.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document