Dynamic sensitivity of area V4 neurons during saccade preparation.

Han X, Xian SX, Moore T.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Jul 21.
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/07/20/0902412106.long

During the preparation of saccadic eye movements, visual attention is confined to the target of intended fixation and there is a corresponding diminution of visual sensitivity at nontarget locations. Neurons within the macaque visual cortex exhibit correlates of these perceptual changes, such as in area V4, where neuronal responses are enhanced during the preparation of saccades to stimuli within the receptive field (RF), and responses are suppressed during the preparation of saccades to other locations. Both the perceptual and neurophysiological effects suggest that the sensitivity of visual cortical neurons to input is dynamic during saccade preparation. We probed the contrast sensitivity of area V4 neurons to nontarget stimuli at varying times during the preparation of saccades to locations outside of the neuron's receptive field. We found that the contrast sensitivity of many neurons is profoundly altered within 50 ms of saccade onset. The luminance or color contrast sensitivity of individual V4 neurons could increase, decrease, or remain unchanged before saccade onset. For luminance contrast sensitivity, decreases in sensitivity were more frequent and larger in magnitude, resulting in an overall decrement in sensitivity across the population. For color contrast, the effects were smaller and more heterogeneous, resulting in little or no overall change in sensitivity across the population. Our results demonstrate the dynamic influence that saccade preparation has on the sensitivity of visual cortical neurons and suggest a basis for the changes in perception known to occur during saccade preparation.

PMID: 19622736

"Referred visual sensations": rapid perceptual elongation after visual cortical deprivation.

Dilks DD, Baker CI, Liu Y, Kanwisher N.
J Neurosci. 2009 Jul 15;29(28):8960-4.
http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/full/29/28/8960

Visual perceptual distortion (i.e., elongation) has been demonstrated in a single case study after several months of cortical deprivation after a stroke. Here we asked whether similar perceptual elongation can be observed in healthy participants after deprivation and, crucially, how soon after deprivation this elongation occurs. To answer this question, we patched one eye, thus noninvasively and reversibly depriving bottom-up input to the region of primary visual cortex (V1) corresponding to the blind spot (BS) in the unpatched eye, and tested whether and how quickly elongation occurs after the onset of deprivation. Within seconds of eye patching, participants perceived rectangles adjacent to the BS to be elongated toward the BS. We attribute this perceptual elongation to rapid receptive field expansion within the deprived V1 as reported in electrophysiological studies after retinal lesions and refer to it as "referred visual sensations" (RVS). This RVS is too fast to be the result of structural changes in the cortex (e.g., the growth of new connections), instead implicating unmasking of preexisting connections as the underlying neural mechanism. These findings may shed light on other reported perceptual distortions, as well as the phenomena of "filling-in."

PMID: 19605633

Millisecond-timescale optical control of neural dynamics in the nonhuman primate brain.

Han X, Qian X, Bernstein JG, Zhou HH, Franzesi GT, Stern P, Bronson RT, Graybiel AM, Desimone R, Boyden ES.
Neuron. 2009 Apr 30;62(2):191-8.
http://www.cell.com/neuron/retrieve/pii/S0896627309002104

To understand how brain states and behaviors are generated by neural circuits, it would be useful to be able to perturb precisely the activity of specific cell types and pathways in the nonhuman primate nervous system. We used lentivirus to target the light-activated cation channel channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) specifically to excitatory neurons of the macaque frontal cortex. Using a laser-coupled optical fiber in conjunction with a recording microelectrode, we showed that activation of excitatory neurons resulted in well-timed excitatory and suppressive influences on neocortical neural networks. ChR2 was safely expressed, and could mediate optical neuromodulation, in primate neocortex over many months. These findings highlight a methodology for investigating the causal role of specific cell types in nonhuman primate neural computation, cognition, and behavior, and open up the possibility of a new generation of ultraprecise neurological and psychiatric therapeutics via cell-type-specific optical neural control prosthetics.

PMID: 19409264

The effect of microsaccades on the correlation between neural activity and behavior in middle temporal, ventral intraparietal, and lateral intraparietal areas.

Herrington TM, Masse NY, Hachmeh KJ, Smith JE, Assad JA, Cook EP.
J Neurosci. 2009 May 6;29(18):5793-805.
http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/full/29/18/5793

It is widely reported that the activity of single neurons in visual cortex is correlated with the perceptual decision of the subject. The strength of this correlation has implications for the neuronal populations generating the percepts. Here we asked whether microsaccades, which are small, involuntary eye movements, contribute to the correlation between neural activity and behavior. We analyzed data from three different visual detection experiments, with neural recordings from the middle temporal (MT), lateral intraparietal (LIP), and ventral intraparietal (VIP) areas. All three experiments used random dot motion stimuli, with the animals required to detect a transient or sustained change in the speed or strength of motion. We found that microsaccades suppressed neural activity and inhibited detection of the motion stimulus, contributing to the correlation between neural activity and detection behavior. Microsaccades accounted for as much as 19% of the correlation for area MT, 21% for area LIP, and 17% for VIP. While microsaccades only explain part of the correlation between neural activity and behavior, their effect has implications when considering the neuronal populations underlying perceptual decisions.

PMID: 19420247

Central V4 receptive fields are scaled by the V1 cortical magnification and correspond to a constant-sized sampling of the V1 surface.

Motter BC.
J Neurosci. 2009 May 6;29(18):5749-57.
http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/full/29/18/5749

The mapping of the topographic representation of the visual field onto cortical areas changes throughout the hierarchy of cortical visual areas. The changes are believed to reflect the establishment of modules with different spatial processing emphasis. The receptive fields (RFs) of neurons within these modules, however, may not be governed by the same spatial topographic map parameters. Here it is shown that the RFs of area V4 neurons (centered 1-12 degrees in eccentricity) are based on a circularly symmetric sampling of the primary visual cortical retinotopic map. No eccentricity dependent magnification beyond that observed in V1 is apparent in the V4 neurons. The size and shape of V4 RFs can be explained by a simple, constant sized, two-dimensional Gaussian sample of visual input from the retinotopic map laid out across the surface of V1. Inferences about the spatial scale of interactions within the receptive fields of neurons cannot be based on a visual area's apparent cortical magnification derived from topographic mapping.

PMID: 19420243

Representation of confidence associated with a decision by neurons in the parietal cortex.

Kiani R, Shadlen MN.
Science. 2009 May 8;324(5928):759-64.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/324/5928/759

The degree of confidence in a decision provides a graded and probabilistic assessment of expected outcome. Although neural mechanisms of perceptual decisions have been studied extensively in primates, little is known about the mechanisms underlying choice certainty. We have shown that the same neurons that represent formation of a decision encode certainty about the decision. Rhesus monkeys made decisions about the direction of moving random dots, spanning a range of difficulties. They were rewarded for correct decisions. On some trials, after viewing the stimulus, the monkeys could opt out of the direction decision for a small but certain reward. Monkeys exercised this option in a manner that revealed their degree of certainty. Neurons in parietal cortex represented formation of the direction decision and the degree of certainty underlying the decision to opt out.

PMID: 19423820

A rodent model for the study of invariant visual object recognition.

Zoccolan D, Oertelt N, DiCarlo JJ, Cox DD.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 May 26;106(21):8748-53.
http://www.pnas.org/content/106/21/8748.long

The human visual system is able to recognize objects despite tremendous variation in their appearance on the retina resulting from variation in view, size, lighting, etc. This ability--known as "invariant" object recognition--is central to visual perception, yet its computational underpinnings are poorly understood. Traditionally, nonhuman primates have been the animal model-of-choice for investigating the neuronal substrates of invariant recognition, because their visual systems closely mirror our own. Meanwhile, simpler and more accessible animal models such as rodents have been largely overlooked as possible models of higher-level visual functions, because their brains are often assumed to lack advanced visual processing machinery. As a result, little is known about rodents' ability to process complex visual stimuli in the face of real-world image variation. In the present work, we show that rats possess more advanced visual abilities than previously appreciated. Specifically, we trained pigmented rats to perform a visual task that required them to recognize objects despite substantial variation in their appearance, due to changes in size, view, and lighting. Critically, rats were able to spontaneously generalize to previously unseen transformations of learned objects. These results provide the first systematic evidence for invariant object recognition in rats and argue for an increased focus on rodents as models for studying high-level visual processing.

PMID: 19429704

Dissociable Neural Effects of Long-term Stimulus-Reward Pairing in Macaque Visual Cortex.

Frankó E, Seitz AR, Vogels R.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2009 Jul 6
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/jocn.2009.21288

It has been proposed that perceptual learning may occur through a reinforcement process, in which consistently pairing stimuli with reward is sufficient for learning. We tested whether stimulus-reward pairing is sufficient to increase the sensorial representation of a stimulus by recording local field potentials (LFPs) in macaque extrastriate area V4 with chronically implanted electrodes. Two oriented gratings were repeatedly presented; one was paired with a fluid reward, whereas no reward was given at any other time. During the course of conditioning the LFP increased for the rewarded compared to the unrewarded orientation. The time course of the effect of stimulus-reward pairing and its reversal differed between an early and late interval of the LFP response: a fast change in the later part of the neural response that was dissociated from a slower change in the early part of the response. The fast change of the late interval LFP suggests that this late LFP change is related to enhanced attention during the presentation of the rewarded stimulus. The slower time course of the early interval response suggests an effect of sensorial learning. Thus, simple stimulus-reward pairing is sufficient to strengthen stimulus representations in visual cortex and does this by means of two dissociable mechanisms.

PMID: 19580385

Dissociable perceptual effects of visual adaptation.

Müller KM, Schillinger F, Do DH, Leopold DA.
PLoS One. 2009 Jul 10;4(7):e6183.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0006183

Neurons in the visual cortex are responsive to the presentation of oriented and curved line segments, which are thought to act as primitives for the visual processing of shapes and objects. Prolonged adaptation to such stimuli gives rise to two related perceptual effects: a slow change in the appearance of the adapting stimulus (perceptual drift), and the distortion of subsequently presented test stimuli (adaptational aftereffects). Here we used a psychophysical nulling technique to dissociate and quantify these two classical observations in order to examine their underlying mechanisms and their relationship to one another. In agreement with previous work, we found that during adaptation horizontal and vertical straight lines serve as attractors for perceived orientation and curvature. However, the rate of perceptual drift for different stimuli was not predictive of the corresponding aftereffect magnitudes, indicating that the two perceptual effects are governed by distinct neural processes. Finally, the rate of perceptual drift for curved line segments did not depend on the spatial scale of the stimulus, suggesting that its mechanisms lie outside strictly retinotopic processing stages. These findings provide new evidence that the visual system relies on statistically salient intrinsic reference stimuli for the processing of visual patterns, and point to perceptual drift as an experimental window for studying the mechanisms of visual perception.

PMID: 19593384

Relating neuronal firing patterns to functional differentiation of cerebral cortex.

Shinomoto S, Kim H, Shimokawa T, Matsuno N, Funahashi S, Shima K, Fujita I, Tamura H, Doi T, Kawano K, Inaba N, Fukushima K, Kurkin S, Kurata K, Taira M, Tsutsui K, Komatsu H, Ogawa T, Koida K, Tanji J, Toyama K.
PLoS Comput Biol. 2009 Jul;5(7):e1000433.
http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1000433

It has been empirically established that the cerebral cortical areas defined by Brodmann one hundred years ago solely on the basis of cellular organization are closely correlated to their function, such as sensation, association, and motion. Cytoarchitectonically distinct cortical areas have different densities and types of neurons. Thus, signaling patterns may also vary among cytoarchitectonically unique cortical areas. To examine how neuronal signaling patterns are related to innate cortical functions, we detected intrinsic features of cortical firing by devising a metric that efficiently isolates non-Poisson irregular characteristics, independent of spike rate fluctuations that are caused extrinsically by ever-changing behavioral conditions. Using the new metric, we analyzed spike trains from over 1,000 neurons in 15 cortical areas sampled by eight independent neurophysiological laboratories. Analysis of firing-pattern dissimilarities across cortical areas revealed a gradient of firing regularity that corresponded closely to the functional category of the cortical area; neuronal spiking patterns are regular in motor areas, random in the visual areas, and bursty in the prefrontal area. Thus, signaling patterns may play an important role in function-specific cerebral cortical computation.

PMID: 19593378