SCIENCE@home

Spatial attention modulates visual gamma oscillations across the human ventral stream

L. Magazzini,Krishna D. Singh

Published 2018 in NeuroImage

ABSTRACT

&NA; Oscillatory synchronization in the gamma frequency range has been proposed as a neuronal mechanism to prioritize processing of relevant stimuli over competing ones. Recent studies in animals found that selective spatial attention enhanced gamma‐band synchronization in high‐order visual areas (V4) and increased the gamma peak frequency in V1. The existence of such mechanisms in the human visual system is yet to be fully demonstrated. In this study, we used MEG, in combination with an optimised stimulus design, to record visual gamma oscillations from human early visual cortex, while participants performed a visuospatial attention cueing task. First, we reconstructed virtual sensors in V1/V2, where gamma oscillations were strongly induced by visual stimulation alone. Second, following the results of a statistical comparison between conditions of attention, we reconstructed cortical activity also in inferior occipital‐temporal regions (V4). The results indicated that gamma amplitude was modulated by spatial attention across the cortical hierarchy, both in the early visual cortex and in higher‐order regions of the ventral visual pathway. In contrast, we found no evidence for an increase in the gamma peak frequency in V1/V2 with attention. The gamma response tended to peak earlier in V1/V2 than in V4 by approximately 70 ms, consistent with a feed‐forward role of gamma‐band activity in propagating sensory representations across the visual cortical hierarchy. Together, these findings suggest that differences in experimental design or methodology can account for the inconsistencies in previous animal and human studies. Furthermore, our results are in line with the hypothesis of enhanced gamma‐band synchronization as an attentional mechanism in the human visual cortex. HighlightsA visuospatial attention task is used to probe human gamma oscillations with MEG.Attention increases gamma amplitude in early visual cortex (V1/V2).Attention increases gamma amplitude in high‐level areas of the ventral stream (V4).No evidence of increased gamma peak frequency in V1 with attention.Feed‐forward gamma‐band synchronization as an attentional mechanism in humans.

PUBLICATION RECORD

CITATION MAP

EXTRACTION MAP

CLAIMS

  • No claims are published for this paper.

CONCEPTS

  • No concepts are published for this paper.

REFERENCES

Showing 1-59 of 59 references · Page 1 of 1

CITED BY

Showing 1-43 of 43 citing papers · Page 1 of 1