Featured
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| Open AccessA multi-demand operating system underlying diverse cognitive tasks
A consistent set of brain areas is engaged across diverse cognitive tasks. Here, the authors reveal a unifying latent brain state that predicts performance across seven tasks, linking a core control network to cognitive flexibility and adaptive behaviors.
- Weidong Cai
- , Jalil Taghia
- & Vinod Menon
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Article
| Open AccessMapping causal links between prefrontal cortical regions and intra-individual behavioral variability
The neural substrates of intra-individual variability are not well understood. Here, the authors show in macaque monkeys that response time variability is decreased by lesions to the anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, while it is increased by lesions to the posterior cingulate cortex and orbitofrontal cortex.
- Farshad Alizadeh Mansouri
- , Mark J. Buckley
- & Keiji Tanaka
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Article
| Open AccessComplex 33-beam simulated galactic cosmic radiation exposure impacts cognitive function and prefrontal cortex neurotransmitter networks in male mice
Here the authors show in male mice that acute and chronic complex simulated galactic cosmic radiation exposure differentially reorganized prefrontal cortex neurotransmitter networks in vivo, which was associated with cognitive deficits.
- Rajeev I. Desai
- , Brian D. Kangas
- & Charles L. Limoli
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Article
| Open AccessFeedforward attentional selection in sensory cortex
How salient objects in our environment grab our attention has been a matter of debate for decades. Here, the authors demonstrate that salient objects automatically capture attention, but cognitive effort can affect their potency.
- Jacob A. Westerberg
- , Jeffrey D. Schall
- & Alexander Maier
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Article
| Open AccessDissociable roles of human frontal eye fields and early visual cortex in presaccadic attention
It has been unclear whether human FEF and early visual cortex play a role in the perceptual modulations preceding saccades. Here, the authors show that V1/2 TMS reduces sensitivity at the contralateral target just before saccade onset, and rFEF+TMS enhances sensitivity where presaccadic perception is poor.
- Nina M. Hanning
- , Antonio Fernández
- & Marisa Carrasco
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Article
| Open AccessPinging the brain to reveal the hidden attentional priority map using encephalography
Past experience with environmental regularities can influence attentional priority. Here the authors show that when observers have learned to expect information in certain locations during a visual search task, such otherwise hidden attentional biases can be visualized through neural responses evoked by the presentation of sudden task-irrelevant visual input (‘pings’).
- Dock H. Duncan
- , Dirk van Moorselaar
- & Jan Theeuwes
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Article
| Open AccessThe intersection of the retrieval state and internal attention
People are thought to engage a retrieval brain state when they bring to mind past experiences. Here, using multivariate pattern classification analyses across experimental paradigms, the author shows that internal attention is a central process of the retrieval state.
- Nicole M. Long
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Article
| Open AccessIntrinsic timescales in the visual cortex change with selective attention and reflect spatial connectivity
Not much is known about how intrinsic timescales, which characterize the dynamics of endogenous fluctuations in neural activity, change during cognitive tasks. Here, the authors show that intrinsic timescales of neural activity in the primate visual cortex change during spatial attention. Experimental data were best explained by a network model in which timescales arise from spatially arranged connectivity.
- Roxana Zeraati
- , Yan-Liang Shi
- & Tatiana A. Engel
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Article
| Open AccessSalience memories formed by value, novelty and aversiveness jointly shape object responses in the prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia
How object salience is encoded in the cortex and basal ganglia remains incompletely understood. Here, the authors show that individual prefrontal cortex neurons are jointly sensitive to the memory of value, aversiveness, novelty, and recency of objects, while the substantia nigra reticulata filters out novelty and recency signals but amplifies value and aversive memories.
- Ali Ghazizadeh
- & Okihide Hikosaka
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Article
| Open AccessReward salience but not spatial attention dominates the value representation in the orbitofrontal cortex
The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) encodes value, but how attention modulates its encoding is not clear. Here, the authors demonstrate that the representation of value in OFC is dominated by reward salience but only weakly modulated by spatial attention.
- Wenyi Zhang
- , Yang Xie
- & Tianming Yang
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Review Article
| Open AccessA consensus statement on detection of hippocampal sharp wave ripples and differentiation from other fast oscillations
While the contribution of sharp wave ripples in memory consolidation and decision-making is established in rodent models, our understanding of their role in human memory is incomplete. Here, the authors discuss common methodological challenges in detecting, analyzing, and reporting sharp wave ripples, then they suggest practical solutions to distinguish them from other high-frequency events
- Anli A. Liu
- , Simon Henin
- & György Buzsáki
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Article
| Open AccessDistractibility and impulsivity neural states are distinct from selective attention and modulate the implementation of spatial attention
Failing to detect relevant information has been assumed to be a consequence of misallocation of attention. Here, the authors present findings showing that optimal behavioral performance results from the absence of interference between internal neural states and attention control.
- J. L. Amengual
- , F. Di Bello
- & Suliann Ben Hamed
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Article
| Open AccessNeuronal congruency effects in macaque prefrontal cortex
Stimulus-induced conflicts impair behavior in conflict tasks resulting in a phenomenon known as the behavioral congruency effect. Here, the authors investigate the neural underpinnings of this phenomenon and report a neuronal congruency effect in macaque prefrontal cortex to explain this impairment.
- Tao Yao
- & Wim Vanduffel
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Article
| Open AccessA conflict between spatial selection and evidence accumulation in area LIP
In primate area LIP, target selection and the accumulation of sensory evidence are considered a single process. Here, the authors use urgent choice tasks to show that spatial selection in LIP is distinct from, and may even conflict with, evidence accumulation.
- Joshua A. Seideman
- , Terrence R. Stanford
- & Emilio Salinas
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Article
| Open AccessFunctional but not obligatory link between microsaccades and neural modulation by covert spatial attention
Covert visual spatial attention modulates neural activity and biases the direction of small eye movements, known as microsaccades. Here, the authors show that these two markers co-vary, but that microsaccades are not necessary for neural modulation by attention to occur.
- Baiwei Liu
- , Anna C. Nobre
- & Freek van Ede
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Article
| Open AccessContribution of the medial eye field network to the voluntary deployment of visuospatial attention
The authors show that damage to both the supplementary and the cingulate eye fields specifically causes visuo-motor exploratory neglect. This suggests that the medial eye field network contributes to the voluntary control of spatial attention
- Guillaume Herbet
- & Hugues Duffau
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Article
| Open AccessCortical state dynamics and selective attention define the spatial pattern of correlated variability in neocortex
Noise correlations in the neocortex change dynamically with cognitive states. Here the authors show how heterogeneous spatial patterns of noise correlations emerge through interactions of cortical On-Off dynamics, connectivity, and attention.
- Yan-Liang Shi
- , Nicholas A. Steinmetz
- & Tatiana A. Engel
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Article
| Open AccessThe ascending arousal system shapes neural dynamics to mediate awareness of cognitive states
Models of brain organisation can overlook the role of the autonomic nervous system in cognitive processes. Here the authors show a link between the ascending arousal system and both low dimensional neural dynamics and internal shifts in conscious awareness.
- Brandon R. Munn
- , Eli J. Müller
- & James M. Shine
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Article
| Open AccessWorking memory representations in visual cortex mediate distraction effects
The relative roles of visual, parietal, and frontal cortex in working memory have been actively debated. Here, the authors show that distraction impacts visual working memory representations in primary visual areas, indicating that these regions play a key role in the maintenance of working memory.
- Grace E. Hallenbeck
- , Thomas C. Sprague
- & Clayton E. Curtis
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Article
| Open AccessNeural attentional-filter mechanisms of listening success in middle-aged and older individuals
Successful listening requires attentional filtering into behaviourally relevant and irrelevant sounds. Here, the authors demonstrate the role of neural speech tracking over alpha lateralization as a potential neural marker of an individual’s adaptive listening behaviour.
- Sarah Tune
- , Mohsen Alavash
- & Jonas Obleser
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Article
| Open AccessPredicting lapses of attention with sleep-like slow waves
Attentional lapses occur in many forms such as mind-wandering or mindblanking. Here the authors show different types of attentional lapse are accompanied by slow waves, neural activity that is characteristic of transitions into sleep.
- Thomas Andrillon
- , Angus Burns
- & Naotsugu Tsuchiya
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Article
| Open AccessThalamocortical excitability modulation guides human perception under uncertainty
How is neural processing adjusted when people experience uncertainty about the relevance of a stimulus feature? Here, the authors provide evidence suggesting that heightened uncertainty shifts cortical networks from a rhythmic to an asynchronous (“excited”) state and that the thalamus is central for such uncertainty-related shifts.
- Julian Q. Kosciessa
- , Ulman Lindenberger
- & Douglas D. Garrett
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Article
| Open AccessSingle trial neuronal activity dynamics of attentional intensity in monkey visual area V4
How intensely an individual focuses attention is a fundamental component of attention in improving behavior performance. Here, the authors isolated neuronal activity dynamics in visual cortex V4 that represents the intensive aspect of attention independent of selective attention and experimental covariates- reward expectation, motor response preparation.
- Supriya Ghosh
- & John H. R. Maunsell
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Article
| Open AccessBi-directional regulation of cognitive control by distinct prefrontal cortical output neurons to thalamus and striatum
This study presents an anatomical, neurophysiological and functional characterization of four distinct prefrontal populations that project to striatal and thalamic sub-regions. The authors show that each of these populations have a discrete role in the regulation of cognitive control.
- Sybren F. de Kloet
- , Bastiaan Bruinsma
- & Huibert D. Mansvelder
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Article
| Open AccessTop-down control of visual cortex by the frontal eye fields through oscillatory realignment
Visual attention requires top-down modulation from the frontal eye fields to change cortical excitability of visual cortex. Here, the authors show that these top-down signals shape perception through mechanisms of oscillatory phase realignment at the beta frequency.
- Domenica Veniero
- , Joachim Gross
- & Gregor Thut
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Article
| Open AccessPrediction of stimulus-independent and task-unrelated thought from functional brain networks
People spend much of their daily lives thinking about things that are unrelated to their immediate environment. Using fMRI, Kucyi et al. show that occurrence of these “stimulus-independent” thoughts can be predicted from a complex pattern of coordinated activity between distinct parts of the brain.
- Aaron Kucyi
- , Michael Esterman
- & Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli
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Article
| Open AccessThe human endogenous attentional control network includes a ventro-temporal cortical node
Endogenous attention is known to be controlled by dorsal fronto-parietal brain areas. Here the authors identify a control attention area located in the temporal lobe, which is functionally distinct from surrounding areas, and is directly connected to parietal and frontal attentional regions.
- Ilaria Sani
- , Heiko Stemmann
- & Winrich A. Freiwald
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Article
| Open AccessStatistically defined visual chunks engage object-based attention
The study reports that implicitly learned, statistically defined chunks of abstract visual shapes elicit similar object-based perceptual effects as images of true objects with visual boundaries do. This result links the emergence of object representations to implicit statistical learning mechanisms.
- Gábor Lengyel
- , Márton Nagy
- & József Fiser
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Article
| Open AccessAccelerating eye movement research via accurate and affordable smartphone eye tracking
Progress in eye movement research has been limited since existing eye trackers are expensive and do not scale. Here, the authors show that smartphone-based eye tracking achieves high accuracy comparable to state-of-the-art mobile eye trackers, replicating key findings from prior eye movement research.
- Nachiappan Valliappan
- , Na Dai
- & Vidhya Navalpakkam
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Article
| Open AccessOculomotor inhibition precedes temporally expected auditory targets
Eye movements are inhibited prior to the occurrence of predictable visual events. Here the authors show that this inhibition is also found in the auditory domain, thus revealing a multimodal perception action coupling.
- Dekel Abeles
- , Roy Amit
- & Shlomit Yuval-Greenberg
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Article
| Open AccessAttention amplifies neural representations of changes in sensory input at the expense of perceptual accuracy
We allocate attention to relevant sensory stimuli to enhance their neural processing. Here, the authors show that attention, like adaptation, causes a misrepresentation and misperception of visual changes in our environment in cases where this aids the perceptual task at hand.
- Vahid Mehrpour
- , Julio C. Martinez-Trujillo
- & Stefan Treue
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Article
| Open AccessTask-induced attention load guides and gates unconscious semantic interference
Conscious task load modulates the unconscious processing of semantic interference between an invisible prime and a visible target in a double-Stroop paradigm, providing evidence that high-level unconscious processing requires attention.
- Shao-Min Hung
- , Daw-An Wu
- & Shinsuke Shimojo
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Article
| Open AccessEndogenous and exogenous control of visuospatial selective attention in freely behaving mice
The authors describe behavioural tasks for the study of primate-like, endogenous and exogenous control of visuospatial selective attention in freely behaving mice.
- Wen-Kai You
- & Shreesh P. Mysore
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Article
| Open AccessNatural rhythms of periodic temporal attention
That attention is a rhythmic process has received abundant evidence. Here, the authors reveal the natural sampling rate of auditory and visual periodic temporal attention. Both are antagonistically modulated by overt motor activity, a result generalised in a dynamical model of coupled oscillators.
- Arnaud Zalta
- , Spase Petkoski
- & Benjamin Morillon
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Article
| Open AccessPrefrontal attentional saccades explore space rhythmically
The prefrontal attention spotlight dynamically explores space at 7–12 Hz, enhancing sensory encoding and behavior, in the absence of eye movements. This alpha-clocked sampling of space is under top-down control and implements an alternation in exploration and exploitation of the visual environment.
- Corentin Gaillard
- , Sameh Ben Hadj Hassen
- & Suliann Ben Hamed
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Article
| Open AccessNeural dynamics of the attentional blink revealed by encoding orientation selectivity during rapid visual presentation
People often fail to perceive the second of two brief visual targets, a phenomenon known as the attentional blink (AB). Here the authors modelled behaviour and brain activity to show that the AB arises from short- and long-range interactions between representations of elementary visual features.
- Matthew F. Tang
- , Lucy Ford
- & Jason B. Mattingley
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Article
| Open AccessNormalization governs attentional modulation within human visual cortex
Attention is known to enhance relevant information in our environment, yet its underlying neural computations remain unclear. Here, the authors provide evidence that the degree to which a neural population can normalize itself results in greater potential for attentional benefits.
- Ilona M. Bloem
- & Sam Ling
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Article
| Open AccessIndividual face- and house-related eye movement patterns distinctively activate FFA and PPA
The fusiform face area and parahippocampal place area respond to face and scene stimuli respectively. Here, the authors show using fMRI that these brain areas are also preferentially activated by eye movements associated with looking at faces and scenes even when no images are shown.
- Lihui Wang
- , Florian Baumgartner
- & Stefan Pollmann
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Article
| Open AccessDigit-tracking as a new tactile interface for visual perception analysis
Eye‐tracking is a valuable tool in cognitive science for measuring how attention is directed during visual scene exploration. Here, the authors introduce a new, touchscreen-based method that accomplishes the same goal via tracking finger movements.
- Guillaume Lio
- , Roberta Fadda
- & Angela Sirigu
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Article
| Open AccessCompeting rhythmic neural representations of orientations during concurrent attention to multiple orientation features
The neural mechanisms for concurrently attending to multiple features in the visual stimuli are not well understood. Here, the authors show that the neural representations for two overlapping stimulus features alternate with each other at a ~4 Hz rhythm that was also observed in fluctuations in the task performance.
- Ce Mo
- , Junshi Lu
- & Fang Fang
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Article
| Open AccessConscious perception of natural images is constrained by category-related visual features
Visual objects from similar semantic categories present activity patterns that cluster together in higher visual areas. The authors show that conscious access differs between semantic categories and is driven by category-related visual features commonly associated with processing in higher level visual areas.
- Daniel Lindh
- , Ilja G. Sligte
- & Ian Charest
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Article
| Open AccessA flexible readout mechanism of human sensory representations
It is known that attention can modify the brain's representations of sensory stimuli to enhance features of importance. Here, the authors show that flexible readout of cortical representations is also required to explain the behavioral effects of attention.
- Daniel Birman
- & Justin L. Gardner
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Article
| Open AccessThe mediodorsal pulvinar coordinates the macaque fronto-parietal network during rhythmic spatial attention
Recent evidence shows that spatial attention is discontinuous over time, sampling locations in rhythmic cycles (3–6 Hz). Here, the authors show that the pulvinar has a role in coordinating this rhythmic sampling, with neural activity propagating from pulvinar to cortex during periods of engagement.
- Ian C. Fiebelkorn
- , Mark A. Pinsk
- & Sabine Kastner
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Article
| Open AccessFeature-specific prediction errors and surprise across macaque fronto-striatal circuits
In order to adjust expectations efficiently, prediction errors need to be associated with the features that gave rise to the unexpected outcome. Here, the authors show that neurons in anterior fronto-striatal networks encode prediction errors that are specific to feature values of different stimulus dimensions.
- Mariann Oemisch
- , Stephanie Westendorff
- & Thilo Womelsdorf
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Article
| Open AccessEye activity tracks task-relevant structures during speech and auditory sequence perception
Our eyes constantly follow objects we see, but do they also move in synchrony with auditory inputs? Here, the authors show that eyelid movements track the temporal structure of speech and other sound sequences, which could reflect a role of motor systems in temporal attention and sequence processing.
- Peiqing Jin
- , Jiajie Zou
- & Nai Ding
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Article
| Open AccessPredicting eye movement patterns from fMRI responses to natural scenes
Human eye movements when viewing scenes can reflect overt spatial attention. Here, O’Connell and Chun predict human eye movement patterns from BOLD responses to natural scenes. Linking brain activity, convolutional neural network (CNN) models, and eye movement behavior, they show that brain activity patterns and CNN models share representations that guide eye movements to scenes.
- Thomas P. O’Connell
- & Marvin M. Chun
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Article
| Open AccessCortical beta power reflects decision dynamics and uncovers multiple facets of post-error adaptation
People slow down reactions after errors, yet it is debated whether the mechanisms behind this slowing are beneficial for future performance. Here, the authors show that EEG measures converge with model predictions supporting a complex but overall beneficial mechanism of post-error slowing.
- Adrian G. Fischer
- , Roland Nigbur
- & Markus Ullsperger
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Article
| Open AccessDistinct population codes for attention in the absence and presence of visual stimulation
Attention affects stimulus response gain, but its impact without sensory drive is less known. Here, the authors show that attention is coded diversely in a population and is distinct between unstimulated and stimulated contexts, providing a contrast to normalized gain models of attention.
- Adam C. Snyder
- , Byron M. Yu
- & Matthew A. Smith
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Article
| Open AccessLateral inhibition by Martinotti interneurons is facilitated by cholinergic inputs in human and mouse neocortex
Parvalbumin and somatostatin expressing interneurons mediate lateral inhibition between cortical neurons. Here the authors report the mechanisms by which acetylcholine from the basal forebrain selectively augments lateral inhibition via Martinotti cells and show that this is conserved in humans.
- Joshua Obermayer
- , Tim S. Heistek
- & Huibert D. Mansvelder