Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 37, Issue 3, Pages 480-511Publisher
SOC NEUROSCIENCE
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4505-14.2017
Keywords
attention mechanisms; behavior; microstimulation and inactivation; midbrain; multialternative decisions; signal-detection theory
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Funding
- Wellcome Trust Department of Biotechnology-India Alliance Fellowship
- Government of India Department of Biotechnology Ramalingaswami Fellowship
- Stanford Mind, Brain and Computation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training Fellowship
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grant [EY014924]
- NIH [EY024243]
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Distinct networks in the forebrain and the midbrain coordinate to control spatial attention. The critical involvement of the superior colliculus (SC)-the central structure in the midbrain network-in visuospatial attention has been shown by four seminal, published studies in monkeys (Macaca mulatta) performing multialternative tasks. However, due to the lack of a mechanistic framework for interpreting behavioral data in such tasks, the nature of the SC's contribution to attention remains unclear. Here we present and validate a novel decision framework for analyzing behavioral data in multialternative attention tasks. We apply this framework to re-examine the behavioral evidence from these published studies. Our model is a multidimensional extension to signal detection theory that distinguishes between two major classes of attentional mechanisms: those that alter the quality of sensory information or sensitivity, and those that alter the selective gating of sensory information or choice bias. Model-based simulations and model-based analyses of data from these published studies revealed a converging pattern of results that indicated that choice-bias changes, rather than sensitivity changes, were the primary outcome of SC manipulation. Our results suggest that the SC contributes to attentional performance predominantly by generating a spatial choice bias for stimuli at a selected location, and that this bias operates downstream of forebrain mechanisms that enhance sensitivity. The findings lead to a testable mechanistic framework of how the midbrain and forebrain networks interact to control spatial attention.
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