21
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Neuromodulation of Attention

      review-article
      1 , ,   2
      Neuron
      Cell Press
      attention, pharmacology, top-down, neuromodulators, attractor networks, population coding

      Read this article at

      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

          Attention is critical to high-level cognition and attention deficits are a hallmark of neurologic and neuropsychiatric disorders. Although years of research indicates that distinct neuromodulators influence attentional control, a mechanistic account that traverses levels of analysis (cells, circuits, behavior) is missing. However, such an account is critical to guide the development of next-generation pharmacotherapies aimed at forestalling or remediating the global burden associated with disorders of attention. Here, we summarize current neuroscientific understanding of how attention affects single neurons and networks of neurons. We then review key results that have informed our understanding of how neuromodulation shapes these neuron and network properties and thereby enables the appropriate allocation of attention to relevant external or internal events. Finally, we highlight areas where we believe hypotheses can be formulated and tackled experimentally in the near future, thereby critically increasing our mechanistic understanding of how attention is implemented at the cellular and network levels.

          Abstract

          Attention is a critical function that sculpts neuronal processing to benefit perception, decision making, and action. This review by Thiele and Bellgrove provides a state-of-the-art perspective on the contributions of different neuromodulators to the effects of attention on neuronal activity.

          Related collections

          Most cited references169

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

          Mnemonic coding of visual space in the monkey's dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

          1. An oculomotor delayed-response task was used to examine the spatial memory functions of neurons in primate prefrontal cortex. Monkeys were trained to fixate a central spot during a brief presentation (0.5 s) of a peripheral cue and throughout a subsequent delay period (1-6 s), and then, upon the extinction of the fixation target, to make a saccadic eye movement to where the cue had been presented. Cues were usually presented in one of eight different locations separated by 45 degrees. This task thus requires monkeys to direct their gaze to the location of a remembered visual cue, controls the retinal coordinates of the visual cues, controls the monkey's oculomotor behavior during the delay period, and also allows precise measurement of the timing and direction of the relevant behavioral responses. 2. Recordings were obtained from 288 neurons in the prefrontal cortex within and surrounding the principal sulcus (PS) while monkeys performed this task. An additional 31 neurons in the frontal eye fields (FEF) region within and near the anterior bank of the arcuate sulcus were also studied. 3. Of the 288 PS neurons, 170 exhibited task-related activity during at least one phase of this task and, of these, 87 showed significant excitation or inhibition of activity during the delay period relative to activity during the intertrial interval. 4. Delay period activity was classified as directional for 79% of these 87 neurons in that significant responses only occurred following cues located over a certain range of visual field directions and were weak or absent for other cue directions. The remaining 21% were omnidirectional, i.e., showed comparable delay period activity for all visual field locations tested. Directional preferences, or lack thereof, were maintained across different delay intervals (1-6 s). 5. For 50 of the 87 PS neurons, activity during the delay period was significantly elevated above the neuron's spontaneous rate for at least one cue location; for the remaining 37 neurons only inhibitory delay period activity was seen. Nearly all (92%) neurons with excitatory delay period activity were directional and few (8%) were omnidirectional. Most (62%) neurons with purely inhibitory delay period activity were directional, but a substantial minority (38%) was omnidirectional. 6. Fifteen of the neurons with excitatory directional delay period activity also had significant inhibitory delay period activity for other cue directions. These inhibitory responses were usually strongest for, or centered about, cue directions roughly opposite those optimal for excitatory responses.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Normalization as a canonical neural computation.

            There is increasing evidence that the brain relies on a set of canonical neural computations, repeating them across brain regions and modalities to apply similar operations to different problems. A promising candidate for such a computation is normalization, in which the responses of neurons are divided by a common factor that typically includes the summed activity of a pool of neurons. Normalization was developed to explain responses in the primary visual cortex and is now thought to operate throughout the visual system, and in many other sensory modalities and brain regions. Normalization may underlie operations such as the representation of odours, the modulatory effects of visual attention, the encoding of value and the integration of multisensory information. Its presence in such a diversity of neural systems in multiple species, from invertebrates to mammals, suggests that it serves as a canonical neural computation.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              High-frequency, long-range coupling between prefrontal and visual cortex during attention.

              Electrical recordings in humans and monkeys show attentional enhancement of evoked responses and gamma synchrony in ventral stream cortical areas. Does this synchrony result from intrinsic activity in visual cortex or from inputs from other structures? Using paired recordings in the frontal eye field (FEF) and area V4, we found that attention to a stimulus in their joint receptive field leads to enhanced oscillatory coupling between the two areas, particularly at gamma frequencies. This coupling appeared to be initiated by FEF and was time-shifted by about 8 to 13 milliseconds across a range of frequencies. Considering the expected conduction and synaptic delays between the areas, this time-shifted coupling at gamma frequencies may optimize the postsynaptic impact of spikes from one area upon the other, improving cross-area communication with attention.
                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Neuron
                Neuron
                Neuron
                Cell Press
                0896-6273
                1097-4199
                21 February 2018
                21 February 2018
                : 97
                : 4
                : 769-785
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
                [2 ]Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences (MICCN) and School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
                Author notes
                []Corresponding author alex.thiele@ 123456ncl.ac.uk
                Article
                S0896-6273(18)30011-4
                10.1016/j.neuron.2018.01.008
                6204752
                29470969
                e483299b-0462-44a5-be58-796a81be7acc
                © 2018 The Authors

                This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                Categories
                Article

                Neurosciences
                attention,pharmacology,top-down,neuromodulators,attractor networks,population coding
                Neurosciences
                attention, pharmacology, top-down, neuromodulators, attractor networks, population coding

                Comments

                Comment on this article