Pulvino-cortical interaction: an integrative role in the control of attention

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexia Bourgeois ◽  
Carole Guedj ◽  
Emmanuel Carrera ◽  
Patrik Vuilleumier
Keyword(s):  
Executive Control ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Cortical Circuits ◽  
Attention And Executive Control ◽  
Neural Communication ◽  
Subcortical Regions ◽  
Theoretical Proposal ◽  
Selection Of

Selective attention is a fundamental cognitive function that guides behavior by selecting and prioritizing salient or relevant sensory information of our environment. Despite early evidence and theoretical proposal pointing to an implication of thalamic control in attention, most studies in the past two decades focused on cortical substrates, largely ignoring the contribution of subcortical regions as well as cortico-subcortical interactions. Here, we suggest a key role of the pulvinar in the selection of salient and relevant information via its involvement in priority maps computation. Prioritization may be achieved through a pulvinar- mediated generation of alpha oscillations, which may then modulate neuronal gain in thalamo-cortical circuits. Such mechanism might orchestrate the synchrony of cortico-cortical interaction, by rendering neural communication more effective, precise and selective. We propose that this theoretical framework will support a timely shift from the prevailing cortico- centric view of cognition to a more integrative perspective of thalamic contributions to attention and executive control processes.

scholarly journals The effect of visual salience on memory-based choices

2014 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arezoo Pooresmaeili ◽  
Dominik R. Bach ◽  
Raymond J. Dolan
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Visual Selective Attention ◽  
Visual Salience ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Capacity Limitations ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
Task Irrelevant

Deciding whether a stimulus is the “same” or “different” from a previous presented one involves integrating among the incoming sensory information, working memory, and perceptual decision making. Visual selective attention plays a crucial role in selecting the relevant information that informs a subsequent course of action. Previous studies have mainly investigated the role of visual attention during the encoding phase of working memory tasks. In this study, we investigate whether manipulation of bottom-up attention by changing stimulus visual salience impacts on later stages of memory-based decisions. In two experiments, we asked subjects to identify whether a stimulus had either the same or a different feature to that of a memorized sample. We manipulated visual salience of the test stimuli by varying a task-irrelevant feature contrast. Subjects chose a visually salient item more often when they looked for matching features and less often so when they looked for a nonmatch. This pattern of results indicates that salient items are more likely to be identified as a match. We interpret the findings in terms of capacity limitations at a comparison stage where a visually salient item is more likely to exhaust resources leading it to be prematurely parsed as a match.

Response Inhibition and Response Selection: Two Sides of the Same Coin

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 751-761 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stewart H. Mostofsky ◽  
Daniel J. Simmonds
Keyword(s):  
Response Inhibition ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Population Studies ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Cortical Circuits ◽  
Motor Responses ◽  
Appropriate Behavior ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Two Sides ◽  
Selection Of

Response inhibition refers to the suppression of actions that are inappropriate in a given context and that interfere with goal-driven behavior. Studies using a range of methodological approaches have implicated executive control processes mediated by frontal-subcortical circuits as being critical to response inhibition; however, localization within the frontal lobe has been inconsistent. In this review, we present evidence from behavioral, lesion, neuroimaging, electrophysiology, and neurological population studies. The findings lay the foundation for a construct in which response inhibition is akin to response selection, such that pre-SMA circuits are critical to selection of appropriate behavior, including both selecting to engage appropriate motor responses and selecting to withhold (inhibit) inappropriate motor responses. Recruitment of additional prefrontal and posterior cortical circuits, necessary to guide response selection, varies depending on the cognitive and behavioral demands of the task.

scholarly journals Interneuron subtypes enable independent modulation of excitatory and inhibitory firing rates after sensory deprivation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonidas M. A. Richter ◽  
Julijana Gjorgjieva
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Deprivation ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Mechanistic Explanation ◽  
Monocular Deprivation ◽  
Recurrent Networks ◽  
Cortical Circuits ◽  
Cortical Dynamics ◽  
Sensory Cortices ◽  
Synaptic Changes

Diverse interneuron subtypes determine how cortical circuits process sensory information depending on their connectivity. Sensory deprivation experiments are ideally suited to unravel the plasticity mechanisms which shape circuit connectivity, but have yet to consider the role of different inhibitory subtypes. We investigate how synaptic changes due to monocular deprivation affect the firing rate dynamics in a microcircuit network model of the visual cortex. We demonstrate that, in highly recurrent networks, deprivation-induced plasticity generates fundamentally different activity changes depending on interneuron composition. Considering parvalbumin-positive (PV+) and somatostatin-positive (SST+) interneuron subtypes can capture the experimentally observed independent modulation of excitatory and inhibitory activity during sensory deprivation when SST+ feedback is sufficiently strong. Our model also applies to whisker deprivation in the somatosensory cortex revealing that these mechanisms are general across sensory cortices. Therefore, we provide a mechanistic explanation for the differential role of interneuron subtypes in regulating cortical dynamics during deprivation-induced plasticity.

scholarly journals Neural correlates of cognitive motor signals in primary somatosensory cortex

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matiar Jafari ◽  
Tyson NS Aflalo ◽  
Srinivas Chivukula ◽  
Spencer S Kellis ◽  
Michelle Armenta Salas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Somatosensory Cortex ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Motor Task ◽  
Primary Somatosensory Cortex ◽  
Cortical Function ◽  
Classical Systems ◽  
Systems Neuroscience ◽  
Directional Connectivity ◽  
Subcortical Regions

AbstractClassical systems neuroscience positions primary sensory areas as early feed-forward processing stations for refining incoming sensory information. This view may oversimplify their role given extensive bi-directional connectivity with multimodal cortical and subcortical regions. Here we show that single units in human primary somatosensory cortex encode imagined reaches centered on imagined limb positions in a cognitive motor task. This result suggests a broader role of primary somatosensory cortex in cortical function than previously demonstrated.

scholarly journals Cortical ensembles selective for context

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (14) ◽  
pp. e2026179118
Author(s):  
Jordan P. Hamm ◽  
Yuriy Shymkiv ◽  
Shuting Han ◽  
Weijian Yang ◽  
Rafael Yuste
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Information ◽  
Prediction Errors ◽  
Cortical Circuits ◽  
Two Photon ◽  
Specific Subset ◽  
Primary Sensory Cortex ◽  
Cortical Responses ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Visual Oddball ◽  
Selection Of

Neural processing of sensory information is strongly influenced by context. For instance, cortical responses are reduced to predictable stimuli, while responses are increased to novel stimuli that deviate from contextual regularities. Such bidirectional modulation based on preceding sensory context is likely a critical component or manifestation of attention, learning, and behavior, yet how it arises in cortical circuits remains unclear. Using volumetric two-photon calcium imaging and local field potentials in primary visual cortex (V1) from awake mice presented with visual “oddball” paradigms, we identify both reductions and augmentations of stimulus-evoked responses depending, on whether the stimulus was redundant or deviant, respectively. Interestingly, deviance-augmented responses were limited to a specific subset of neurons mostly in supragranular layers. These deviance-detecting cells were spatially intermixed with other visually responsive neurons and were functionally correlated, forming a neuronal ensemble. Optogenetic suppression of prefrontal inputs to V1 reduced the contextual selectivity of deviance-detecting ensembles, demonstrating a causal role for top-down inputs. The presence of specialized context-selective ensembles in primary sensory cortex, modulated by higher cortical areas, provides a circuit substrate for the brain’s construction and selection of prediction errors, computations which are key for survival and deficient in many psychiatric disorders.

Spatial Representations as an Emergent Feature of Perceptual Processing

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmund Wascher ◽  
C. Beste
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Integrated Network ◽  
Perceptual Maps ◽  
Emergent Feature ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Selection Of

Spatial selection of relevant information has been proposed to reflect an emergent feature of stimulus processing within an integrated network of perceptual areas. Stimulus-based and intention-based sources of information might converge in a common stage when spatial maps are generated. This approach appears to be inconsistent with the assumption of distinct mechanisms for stimulus-driven and top-down controlled attention. In two experiments, the common ground of stimulus-driven and intention-based attention was tested by means of event-related potentials (ERPs) in the human EEG. In both experiments, the processing of a single transient was compared to the selection of a physically comparable stimulus among distractors. While single transients evoked a spatially sensitive N1, the extraction of relevant information out of a more complex display was reflected in an N2pc. The high similarity of the spatial portion of these two components (Experiment 1), and the replication of this finding for the vertical axis (Experiment 2) indicate that these two ERP components might both reflect the spatial representation of relevant information as derived from the organization of perceptual maps, just at different points in time.

Faculty selection of textbooks: Key variables and the role of teaching experience

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aja Taitano ◽  
Bradley Smith ◽  
Cade Hulbert ◽  
Kristin Batten ◽  
Lalania Woodstrom ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Key Variables ◽  
Faculty Selection ◽  
Selection Of

Posttransplant CMV infection and the role of immunosuppression (Sponsor: Novartis Pharma GmbH, Nürnberg)

2016 ◽  
Vol 04 (01) ◽  
pp. 4-10
Keyword(s):  
Lower Incidence ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Mtor Inhibitor ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Expert Panel ◽  
Risk Of Infection ◽  
Cmv Infection ◽  
Expert Meeting ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractImmunosuppression permits graft survival after transplantation and consequently a longer and better life. On the other hand, it increases the risk of infection, for instance with cytomegalovirus (CMV). However, the various available immunosuppressive therapies differ in this regard. One of the first clinical trials using de novo everolimus after kidney transplantation [1] already revealed a considerably lower incidence of CMV infection in the everolimus arms than in the mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) arm. This result was repeatedly confirmed in later studies [2–4]. Everolimus is now considered a substance with antiviral properties. This article is based on the expert meeting “Posttransplant CMV infection and the role of immunosuppression”. The expert panel called for a paradigm shift: In a CMV prevention strategy the targeted selection of the immunosuppressive therapy is also a key element. For patients with elevated risk of CMV, mTOR inhibitor-based immunosuppression is advantageous as it is associated with a significantly lower incidence of CMV events.

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