Optimal attentional modulation of a neural population.

ABSTRACT: Top-down attention has often been separately studied in the contexts of either optimal population coding or biasing of visual search. Yet, both are intimately linked, as they entail optimally modulating sensory variables in neural populations according to top-down goals. Designing experiments to probe top-down attentional modulation is difficult because non-linear population dynamics are hard to predict in the absence of a concise theoretical framework. Here, we describe a unified framework that encompasses both contexts. Our work sheds light onto the ongoing debate on whether attention modulates neural response gain, tuning width, and/or preferred feature. We evaluate the framework by conducting simulations for two tasks: (1) classification (discrimination) of two stimuli s a and s b and

SUBMITTER: Borji A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3972484 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature