The effects of attention in the brain can be partitioned into changes in sensitivity of in the subject’s criterion. In visual cortex, only changes in sensitivity are seen. Here, Luo and Maunsell show that neurons in frontal cortex are sensitive to changes in sensitivity as well as criterion.
Luo, T. Z., & Maunsell, J. H. (2018). Attentional Changes in Either Criterion or Sensitivity Are Associated with Robust Modulations in Lateral Prefrontal Cortex. Neuron.
An article in Science News about new ideas on the role of brain waves. It also discuss three new papers from the Miller Lab.
Brain waves may focus attention and keep information flowing Science New March 13, 2018
Here are the papers that are discussed:
Lundqvist, M., Herman, P. Warden, M.R., Brincat, S.L., and Miller, E.K. (2018) Gamma and beta bursts during working memory read-out suggest roles in its volitional control. Nature Communications. 9, 394 View PDF
Wutz, A., Loonis, R., Roy, J.E., Donoghue, J.A., and Miller, E.K. (2018) Different levels of category abstraction by different dynamics in different prefrontal areas. Neuron 97: 1-11. View PDF
Bastos, A.M., Loonis, R., Kornblith, S., Lundqvist, M., and Miller, E.K. (2018) Laminar recordings in frontal cortex suggest distinct layers for maintenance and control of working memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. View PDF
Alexander and Brown show how frontal lobe function can be explained by a hierarchical stack of a computational motif based on predictive coding.
Alexander, W. H., & Brown, J. W. (2018). Frontal cortex function as derived from hierarchical predictive coding. Scientific reports, 8(1), 3843.
Dopamine alters the neural oscillations associated with executive functions but leave sensory-related evoked potential unchanged.
Ott, T., Westendorff, S., & Nieder, A. (2018). Dopamine Receptors Influence Internally Generated Oscillations during Rule Processing in Primate Prefrontal Cortex. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, (Early Access), 1-15.
A very nice review of how neuromodulation affects the mechanisms and circuits underlying attention.
Thiele, A., & Bellgrove, M. A. (2018). Neuromodulation of Attention. Neuron, 97(4), 769-785.
Martínez-Vázquez and Gail show different channels of influence in different frequency bands between frontal and parietal cortex.
Martínez-Vázquez, P., & Gail, A. (2018). Directed Interaction Between Monkey Premotor and Posterior Parietal Cortex During Motor-Goal Retrieval from Working Memory. Cerebral Cortex.
Interesting new study from the Moore Lab showing how spatial information is evident in different frequency bands in the prefrontal cortex. They also show a dissociation between high gamma/spiking and alpha.
Chen, X., Zirnsak, M., & Moore, T. (2018). Dissonant Representations of Visual Space in Prefrontal Cortex during Eye Movements. Cell Reports, 22(8), 2039-2052.
Interesting new work from Ito and Cole showing how network connectivity patterns is associated with representational flexibility.
Ito, T., & Cole, M. W. (2018). Network dimensionality underlies flexible representation of cognitive information. bioRxiv, 262626.
Interesting study showing that there are decreases in the frequency of alpha oscillations when a task requires require integration of two inputs that are separated in time. The slowing fosters integration by making it more likely that two stimuli fall within one alpha cycle and are thus integrated. Cool.
Wutz, A., Melcher, D., & Samaha, J. (2018). Frequency modulation of neural oscillations according to visual task demands. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 201713318.
Lundqvist, M., Herman, P. Warden, M.R., Brincat, S.L., and Miller, E.K. (2018) Gamma and beta bursts during working memory read-out suggest roles in its volitional control. Nature Communications. 9, Article number: 394 doi:10.1038/s41467-017-02791-8
Abstract:
Working memory (WM) activity is not as stationary or sustained as previously thought. There are brief bursts of gamma (~50–120 Hz) and beta (~20–35 Hz) oscillations, the former linked to stimulus information in spiking. We examined these dynamics in relation to readout and control mechanisms of WM. Monkeys held sequences of two objects in WM to match to subsequent sequences. Changes in beta and gamma bursting suggested their distinct roles. In anticipation of having to use an object for the match decision, there was an increase in gamma and spiking information about that object and reduced beta bursting. This readout signal was only seen before relevant test objects, and was related to premotor activity. When the objects were no longer needed, beta increased and gamma decreased together with object spiking information. Deviations from these dynamics predicted behavioral errors. Thus, beta could regulate gamma and the information in WM.