Spatial Attention Effects in Macaque Area V4
Open accessAbstract
Focal visual attention typically produces enhanced perceptual processing at the psychological level and relatively stronger neural responses at the physiological level. A longstanding mechanistic question is whether these attentional effects pertain specifically to the attended (target) object or to the region of space it occupies. We show here that attentional response enhancement in macaque area V4 extends to behaviorally irrelevant objects in the vicinity of the target object, indicating that focal attention has a strong spatial component at the physiological level. In addition, we find that spatial attention effects typically show a striking directional asymmetry. The direction of the asymmetry varies between cells, so that some cells respond best when attention is directed to the left of the stimulus, some when attention is directed to the right, etc. Thus, attention involves not only enhanced responses to behavioral targets but also a complex modulation of responses to other stimuli in the surrounding visual space.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
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 [45]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Neural Mechanisms of Selective Visual Attention
Desimone, R., & Duncan, J. (1995) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev.ne.18.030195.001205 · Cited by 8,388 · see citing works
Effects of noise letters upon the identification of a target letter in a nonsearch task
Eriksen, B. A., & Eriksen, C. W. (1974) · Perception & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/bf03203267 · Cited by 7,230 · see citing works
Attention and the detection of signals.
Posner, M. I., Snyder, C. R., & Davidson, B. J. (1980) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/0096-3445.109.2.160 · Cited by 3,778 · see citing works
Shifts in Selective Visual Attention: Towards the Underlying Neural Circuitry
Christof Koch, A., & Ullman, S. (1987) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-94-009-3833-5_5 · Cited by 3,739 · see citing works
Selective Attention Gates Visual Processing in the Extrastriate Cortex
Moran, J., & Desimone, R. (1985) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.4023713 · Cited by 2,433 · see citing works
A Method of Measuring Eye Movemnent Using a Scieral Search Coil in a Magnetic Field
Robinson, D. A. (1963) · IEEE Transactions on Bio-medical Electronics · doi:10.1109/tbmel.1963.4322822 · Cited by 2,214 · see citing works
Selective Attention Gates Visual Processing in the Extrastriate Cortex
Moran, J., & Desimone, R. (2003) · The MIT Press eBooks · doi:10.7551/mitpress/2834.003.0024 · Cited by 2,164 · see citing works
A method of measuring eye movements using a scleral search coil in a magnetic field
Robinson, D. A. (1963) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 1,709 · see citing works
Selective attention and the organization of visual information.
Duncan, J. S. (1984) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037//0096-3445.113.4.501 · Cited by 1,679 · see citing works
(1990) · CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) · Cited by 1,661 · see citing works
Function of the thalamic reticular complex: the searchlight hypothesis
Crick, F. (1984) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.81.14.4586 · Cited by 1,651 · see citing works
Randomization and Monte Carlo Methods in Biology.
Foutz, R. V., & Manly, B. F. J. (1992) · Journal of the American Statistical Association · doi:10.2307/2290299 · Cited by 1,627 · see citing works
Selective attention and the organization of visual information.
Duncan, J. S. (1984) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037/0096-3445.113.4.501 · Cited by 1,600 · see citing works
Encoding of Spatial Location by Posterior Parietal Neurons
Andersen, R., Essick, G. K., & Siegel, R. M. (1985) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.4048942 · Cited by 1,413 · see citing works
Randomization and Monte Carlo Methods in Biology
Manly, B. F. J. (1991) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-2995-2 · Cited by 1,251 · see citing works
Zipser, D., & Andersen, R. A. (1988) · Nature · doi:10.1038/331679a0 · Cited by 1,172 · see citing works
Angelucci (2002) · doi:10.1146/annurev.ne.08.030185.002203 · Cited by 1,170 · see citing works
Modeling visual attention via selective tuning
Tsotsos, J. K., Culhane, S. M., Kei Wai, W. Y., Lai, Y., Davis, N., & Nuflo, F. (1995) · Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.1016/0004-3702(95)00025-9 · Cited by 1,143 · see citing works
Allocation of attention in the visual field.
Eriksen, C. W., & Yeh, Y. (1985) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037//0096-1523.11.5.583 · Cited by 1,094 · see citing works
A neural cocktail-party processor
von der Malsburg, C., & Schneider, W. (1986) · Biological Cybernetics · doi:10.1007/bf00337113 · Cited by 1,063 · see citing works
Motter, B. C. (1993) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.1993.70.3.909 · Cited by 1,055 · see citing works
Neuronal responses to static texture patterns in area V1 of the alert macaque monkey
Knierim, J. J., & Essen, D. C. V. (1992) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.1992.67.4.961 · Cited by 1,052 · see citing works
Olshausen, B., Anderson, C., & Van Essen, D. (1993) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.13-11-04700.1993 · Cited by 908 · see citing works
Increased Attention Enhances Both Behavioral and Neuronal Performance
Spitzer, H., Desimone, R., & Moran, J. (1988) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.3353728 · Cited by 815 · see citing works
Contour, color and shape analysis beyond the striate cortex
Desimone, R., Schein, S. J., Moran, J., & Ungerleider, L. G. (1985) · Vision Research · doi:10.1016/0042-6989(85)90069-0 · Cited by 535 · see citing works
Neural correlates of attentive selection for color or luminance in extrastriate area V4
Motter, B. C. (1994) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.14-04-02178.1994 · Cited by 482 · see citing works
The spatial structure of visual attention
Downing, C. J. (1985) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 451 · see citing works
Visual attention and objects: Evidence for hierarchical coding of location.
Baylis, G. C., & Driver, J. (1993) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037//0096-1523.19.3.451 · Cited by 405 · see citing works
Short Report: Object-Centred Inhibition of Return of Visual Attention
Tipper, S. P., Driver, J., & Weaver, B. (1991) · The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A · doi:10.1080/14640749108400971 · Cited by 358 · see citing works
Preattentive Object Files: Shapeless Bundles of Basic Features
WOLFE, J. M., & BENNETT, S. C. (1997) · Vision Research · doi:10.1016/s0042-6989(96)00111-3 · Cited by 349 · see citing works
Stimulus-Driven Attentional Capture
Yantis, S. (1993) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/1467-8721.ep10768973 · Cited by 306 · see citing works
Preserved figure-ground segregation and symmetry perception in visual neglect
Driver, J., Baylis, G. C., & Rafal, R. D. (1992) · Nature · doi:10.1038/360073a0 · Cited by 302 · see citing works
Categorical versus coordinate spatial relations: Computational analyses and computer simulations.
Kosslyn, S. M., Chabris, C. F., Marsolek, C. J., et al. (1992) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037//0096-1523.18.2.562 · Cited by 292 · see citing works
Neural correlates of feature selective memory and pop-out in extrastriate area V4
Motter, B. (1994) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.14-04-02190.1994 · Cited by 282 · see citing works
Responses in area V4 depend on the spatial relationship between stimulus and attention
Connor, C. E., Gallant, J. L., Preddie, D. C., & Van Essen, D. C. (1996) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.1996.75.3.1306 · Cited by 278 · see citing works
Self-citationObject-Centered Direction Selectivity in the Macaque Supplementary Eye Field
Olson, C. R., & Gettner, S. N. (1995) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.7638625 · Cited by 238 · see citing works
Spatial attention and the apprehension of spatial relations.
Logan, G. D. (1994) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/0096-1523.20.5.1015 · Cited by 221 · see citing works
Spatial selectivity in visual search
Hoffman, J. E., & Nelson, B. C. (1981) · Perception & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/bf03214284 · Cited by 192 · see citing works
Niebur, E., & Christof Koch, A. (1994) · Journal of Computational Neuroscience · doi:10.1007/bf00962722 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Inhibition of return to object-based and environment-based locations
Gibson, B. S., & Egeth, H. E. (1994) · Perception & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/bf03207603 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Invariant Visual Responses From Attentional Gain Fields
Salinas, E., & Abbott, L. F. (1997) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.1997.77.6.3267 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Katchman, A. N., & Hershkowitz, N. (1993) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.1993.70.1.1 · Cited by 120 · see citing works
When Two is One: A Case Study of Spatial Parsing in Visual Neglect
Halligan, P. W., & Marshall, J. C. (1993) · Perception · doi:10.1068/p220309 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Fatigue, oscillation, and blocks.
Bills, A. G. (1935) · Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0054248 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Hierarchical models of object recognition in cortex
Riesenhuber, M., & Poggio, T. (1999) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/14819 · Cited by 3,309 · see citing works
Neuronal Synchrony: A Versatile Code for the Definition of Relations?
Singer, W. (1999) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(00)80821-1 · Cited by 2,581 · see citing works
Mechanisms of visual attention in the human cortex
Ungerleider, S. K. A. L. G. (2000) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.23.1.315 · Cited by 2,159 · see citing works
Competitive Mechanisms Subserve Attention in Macaque Areas V2 and V4
Reynolds, J. H., Chelazzi, L., & Desimone, R. (1999) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.19-05-01736.1999 · Cited by 1,236 · see citing works
Neuronal Activity in the Lateral Intraparietal Area and Spatial Attention
Bisley, J. W., & Goldberg, M. E. (2003) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1077395 · Cited by 821 · see citing works
von der Malsburg, C. (1999) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(00)80825-9 · Cited by 501 · see citing works
NEURAL SELECTION AND CONTROL OF VISUALLY GUIDED EYE MOVEMENTS
Schall, J. D., & Thompson, K. G. (1999) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.22.1.241 · Cited by 489 · see citing works
Shape Representation in Area V4: Position-Specific Tuning for Boundary Conformation
Pasupathy, A., & Connor, C. E. (2001) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.2001.86.5.2505 · Cited by 483 · see citing works
Self-citationNeural mechanisms of selective visual attention.
Moore, T., & Zirnsak, M. (2017) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-122414-033400 · Cited by 471 · see citing works
Salinas, E., & Thier, P. (2000) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(00)00004-0 · Cited by 400 · see citing works
Attention during natural vision warps semantic representation across the human brain
Çukur, T., Nishimoto, S., Huth, A. G., & Gallant, J. L. (2013) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.3381 · Cited by 351 · see citing works
Self-citationMechanisms underlying gain modulation in the cortex
Ferguson, K. A., & Cardin, J. A. (2020) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/s41583-019-0253-y · Cited by 327 · see citing works
Attention modulates spatial priority maps in the human occipital, parietal and frontal cortices
Sprague, T. C., & Serences, J. T. (2013) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.3574 · Cited by 266 · see citing works
Prefrontal contributions to visual selective attention
Squire, R. F., Noudoost, B., Schafer, R. J., & Moore, T. (2013) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev-neuro-062111-150439 · Cited by 260 · see citing works
Attention Modulates the Responses of Simple Cells in Monkey Primary Visual Cortex
McAdams, C. J., & Reid, R. C. (2005) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.2904-05.2005 · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Automatic spread of attentional response modulation along Gestalt criteria in primary visual cortex
Wannig, A., Stanisor, L., & Roelfsema, P. R. (2011) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.2910 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Ben Hamed, S. (2002) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/12.3.234 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Cardin, J. A., Palmer, L. A., & Contreras, D. (2008) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2008.05.002 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Determinants and mechanisms of attentional modulation of neural processing.
Schroeder, C. (2001) · Frontiers in bioscience · doi:10.2741/schroed · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Fast Remapping of Sensory Stimuli onto Motor Actions on the Basis of Contextual Modulation
Salinas, E. (2004) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4569-03.2004 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
- Authors
- Connor, C. E., Preddie, D. C., Gallant, J. L., & Van Essen, D. C.
- Affiliations
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 1997-05-01
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 3201-3214
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC6573654
- OpenAlex
- W2169534307
- Cited by
- 448
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 14.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- Office of Naval Research
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Visual Attention and Saliency Detection
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
- Keywords
- spatial attention, area V4, macaque visual cortex, directional asymmetry, visual space
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Attention, Macaca, Photic Stimulation, Spatial Behavior, Visual Cortex
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review