Pathway-selective optogenetics reveals the functional anatomy of top-down attentional modulation in the macaque visual cortex.

ABSTRACT: Spatial attention represents a powerful top-down influence on sensory responses in primate visual cortical areas. The frontal eye field (FEF) has emerged as a key candidate area for the source of this modulation. However, it is unclear whether the FEF exerts its effects via its direct axonal projections to visual areas or indirectly through other brain areas and whether the FEF affects both the enhancement of attended and the suppression of unattended sensory responses. We used pathway-selective optogenetics in rhesus macaques performing a spatial attention task to inhibit the direct input from the FEF to area MT, an area along the dorsal visual pathway specialized for the processing of visual motion information. Our results show that the optogenetic inhibition of the FEF input specificall

SUBMITTER: Huer J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10801865 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature