Cited by 286Visual perception and processing mechanismsNeural dynamics and brain functionVisual Attention and Saliency Detection

Effects of Attention on the Reliability of Individual Neurons in Monkey Visual Cortex

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McAdams, Carrie J., Maunsell, John H.R.·1999·Neuron

Abstract

To determine the physiological mechanisms underlying the enhancement of performance by attention, we examined how attention affects the ability of isolated neurons to discriminate orientation by investigating the reliability of responses with and without attention. Recording from 262 neurons in cortical area V4 while two rhesus macaques did a delayed match-to-sample task with oriented stimuli, we found that attention did not produce detectable changes in the variability of neuronal responses but did improve the orientation discriminability of the neurons. We also found that attention did not change the relationship between burst rate and response rate. Our results are consistent with the idea that attention selects groups of neurons for a multiplicative enhancement in response strength.

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Crossref · 10.1016/s0896-6273(01)80034-9

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52 of 52 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • In non-human primate visual system, visual spatial attention within the receptive field of a recorded neuron enhances both contrast gain and response gain.

    “Attentional modulation of neural gain has been particularly well studied in the non-human primate visual system1,42,43, in which visual spatial attention within the receptive field of a recorded neuron enhances both contrast gain (that is, scaling of that neuron’s stimulus-response relationship along the contrast axis)43 and response gain (that is, multiplicative transformation of responses to all”

    From Mechanisms underlying gain modulation in the cortex (2020) · cites this paper as [14]

  • Neurons in many cortical and subcortical brain areas exhibit robust gain modulation that may contribute to multiple cognitive functions, including attention, learning, sensory processing and multimodal integration.

    “Neurons in many cortical and subcortical brain areas exhibit robust gain modulation that may contribute to multiple cognitive functions, including attention, learning, sensory processing and multimodal integration1–3,7,8,13–17.”

    From Mechanisms underlying gain modulation in the cortex (2020) · cites this paper as [14]

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Authors
McAdams, C. J., & Maunsell, J. H. R.
Affiliations
  • Baylor College of Medicine (US)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
Corresponding author
Maunsell, John H.R.
Venue
Neuron
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
1999-08
Volume
23
Issue
4
Pages
765-773
ISSN
0896-6273 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2139326454
Cited by
286
References
53
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 14
FWCI
6.32
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neuron (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Eye Institute (R01 EY-05911, T32 EY07001, T32EY007001, R01EY005911)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (T32GM007330, T32GM-07330)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Visual Attention and Saliency Detection
Keywords
visual attention, orientation discrimination, area V4, rhesus monkeys, neuronal response variability, burst firing, response rate, delayed matching-to-sample
MeSH terms
Animals, Attention, Discrimination, Psychological, Electrophysiology, Macaca mulatta, Microelectrodes, Neurons, Orientation, Psychomotor Performance, Time Factors, Visual Cortex, Visual Fields

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