For Publishers
DiscoveryMetadataPeer reviewHostingPublishing
For Researchers
JoinPublishReviewCollect
Register
Blog
About
Search
Advanced search
My ScienceOpen
Search
For Publishers
For Researchers
Blog
About
29
views
59
references
 Top references
cited by
3
    
0 reviews
 Review
0
comments
 Comment
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      204
      similar
       All similar
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Crossmodal Links between Vision and Touch in Spatial Attention: A Computational Modelling Study

      research-article

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPMC
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Many studies have revealed that attention operates across different sensory modalities, to facilitate the selection of relevant information in the multimodal situations of every-day life. Cross-modal links have been observed either when attention is directed voluntarily (endogenous) or involuntarily (exogenous). The neural basis of cross-modal attention presents a significant challenge to cognitive neuroscience. Here, we used a neural network model to elucidate the neural correlates of visual-tactile interactions in exogenous and endogenous attention. The model includes two unimodal (visual and tactile) areas connected with a bimodal area in each hemisphere and a competition between the two hemispheres. The model is able to explain cross-modal facilitation both in exogenous and endogenous attention, ascribing it to an advantaged activation of the bimodal area on the attended side (via a top-down or bottom-up biasing), with concomitant inhibition towards the opposite side. The model suggests that a competitive/cooperative interaction with biased competition may mediate both forms of cross-modal attention.

          Related collections

          Most cited references59

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Competitive mechanisms subserve attention in macaque areas V2 and V4.

          John Reynolds, Leonardo Chelazzi, Robert Desimone (1999)
          It is well established that attention modulates visual processing in extrastriate cortex. However, the underlying neural mechanisms are unknown. A consistent observation is that attention has its greatest impact on neuronal responses when multiple stimuli appear together within a cell's receptive field. One way to explain this is to assume that multiple stimuli activate competing populations of neurons and that attention biases this competition in favor of the attended stimulus. In the absence of competing stimuli, there is no competition to be resolved. Accordingly, attention has a more limited effect on the neuronal response to a single stimulus. To test this interpretation, we measured the responses of neurons in macaque areas V2 and V4 using a behavioral paradigm that allowed us to isolate automatic sensory processing mechanisms from attentional effects. First, we measured each cell's response to a single stimulus presented alone inside the receptive field or paired with a second receptive field stimulus, while the monkey attended to a location outside the receptive field. Adding the second stimulus typically caused the neuron's response to move toward the response that was elicited by the second stimulus alone. Then, we directed the monkey's attention to one element of the pair. This drove the neuron's response toward the response elicited when the attended stimulus appeared alone. These findings are consistent with the idea that attention biases competitive interactions among neurons, causing them to respond primarily to the attended stimulus. A quantitative neural model of attention is proposed to account for these results.
          Article 0 comments Cited 199 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            The role of the corpus callosum in interhemispheric transfer of information: excitation or inhibition?

            Juliana S Bloom, George W Hynd (2005)
            The corpus callosum is the major neural pathway that connects homologous cortical areas of the two cerebral hemispheres. The nature of how that interhemispheric connection is manifested is the topic of this review; specifically, does the corpus callosum serve to communicate an inhibitory or excitatory influence on the contralateral hemisphere? Several studies take the position that the corpus callosum provides the pathway through which a hemisphere or cortical area can inhibit the other hemisphere or homologous cortical area in order to facilitate optimal functional capacity. Other studies suggest that the corpus callosum integrates information across cerebral hemispheres and thus serves an excitatory function in interhemispheric communication. This review examines these two contrasting theories of interhemispheric communication. Studies of callosotomies, callosal agenesis, language disorders, theories of lateralization and hemispheric asymmetry, and comparative research are critically considered. The available research, no matter how limited, primarily supports the notion that the corpus callosum serves a predominantly excitatory function. There is evidence, however, to support both theories and the possibility remains that the corpus callosum can serve both an inhibitory and excitatory influence on the contralateral hemisphere.
            Article 0 comments Cited 156 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              Neural mechanisms of spatial selective attention in areas V1, V2, and V4 of macaque visual cortex.

              S Luck, R. DeSimone, S D Hillyard … (1996)
              Many neurons in extrastriate visual cortex have large receptive fields, and this may lead to significant computational problems whenever multiple stimuli fall within a single field. Previous studies have suggested that when multiple stimuli fall within a cell's receptive field, they compete for the cell's response in a manner that can be biased in favor of attended stimuli. In the present study we examined this role of attention in areas V1, V2, and V4 of macaque monkeys with the use of a behavioral paradigm in which attention was directed to one of two stimulus locations. When two stimuli were presented simultaneously inside the cell's receptive field (which could be accomplished only in areas V2 and V4), we found that the cell's response was strongly influenced by which of the two stimuli was attended. The size of this attention effect was reduced when the attended and ignored stimuli were presented sequentially rather than simultaneously. In addition, the effects became very weak and inconsistent in these areas when only one of the two stimuli was located inside the receptive field. Attention thus modulated sensory responses primarily when two or more simultaneous stimuli competed for access to a neuron's receptive field. As in areas V2 and V4, attention did not modulate sensory responses in area V1 when only a single stimulus was inside the receptive field. In addition, the small receptive fields in this area precluded the simultaneous presentation of attended and ignored stimuli inside the receptive field, making it impossible to determine whether attention effects would be observed under the conditions that led to consistent attention effects in areas V2 and V4. Spontaneous firing rates in areas V2 and V4 were found to be 30-40% higher when attention was directed inside rather than outside the receptive field, even when no stimulus was present in the receptive field. Spontaneous firing rates also varied according to the particular location within the receptive field that was attended. These shifts in spontaneous activity may reflect a top-down signal that biases responses in favor of stimuli at the attended location.
              Article 0 comments Cited 126 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
                Bookmark
                All references

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Comput Intell Neurosci
                Journal ID (publisher-id): CIN
                Title: Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience
                Publisher: Hindawi Publishing Corporation
                ISSN (Print): 1687-5265
                ISSN (Electronic): 1687-5273
                Publication date (Print): 2010
                Publication date (Electronic): 22 October 2009
                Publication date PMC-release: 22 October 2009
                Volume: 2010
                Electronic Location Identifier: 304941
                Affiliations
                1Department of Electronics, Computer Science and Systems, University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, 47023 Cesena, Italy
                2Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy
                3Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, 47023 Cesena, Italy
                Author notes

                Academic Editor: Fabrizio De Vico Fallani

                Article
                DOI: 10.1155/2010/304941
                PMC ID: 2765689
                PubMed ID: 19859571
                SO-VID: 527e9adc-c7c2-4d04-bcd8-617ad16fee7e
                Copyright © Copyright © 2010 Elisa Magosso et al.
                License:

                This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                Date received : 18 June 2009
                Date accepted : 28 July 2009
                Categories
                Subject: Research Article

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Neurosciences
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Neurosciences

                Comments

                Comment on this article

                scite_

                Similar content204

                See all similar

                Cited by3

                See all cited by

                Most referenced authors329

                See all reference authors