Nature 382, 539 - 541 (08 August 1996); doi:10.1038/382539a0

Attentional modulation of visual motion processing in cortical areas MT and MST

Stefan Treue^* & John H. R. Maunsell^†

^* Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 15, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
^† S-603, Division of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA

THE visual system is constantly inundated with information received by the eyes, only a fraction of which seems to reach visual awareness. This selection process is one of the functions ascribed to visual attention¹⁻⁶. Although many studies have investigated the role of attention in shaping neuronal representations in the visual cortex, few have focused on attentional modulation of neuronal signals related to visual motion. Here we report that the responses of direction-selective neurons in monkey visual cortex are greatly influenced by attention, and that this modulation occurs as early in the cortical hierarchy as the level of the middle temporal visual area (MT). Our finding demonstrates a stronger and earlier influence of attention on motion processing along the dorsal visual pathway than previously recognized.

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