09 - Attention 2

Topics addressed in the lecture:

• The correlates of attentional modulation of sensory information processing in visual cortex.
• Sensory information processing as a highly evolved and very powerful feed-forward system
• Varieties of attention
• Working definition of attention
• Designing experimental paradigms for investigating attentional modulation
• Effects of spatial attention on neuronal responses of primate extrastriate visual cortex

Topics addressed in the seminar:

• The effect of feature-based attention on neuronal responses (for single neutrons and across populations of neutrons) in primate extrastriate visual cortex - the feature-similarity gain model of attention

Questions you should be able to answer after the lecture:

• What is meant by 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' in cortical sensory information processing?
• What is the working definition of attention presented in the lecture?
• Define 'spatial' and 'feature-based' attention

Questions you should be able to answer after the seminar:

• Which neurons are increasing their activity when feature-based attention is switched from upward to downward visual motion?

You should know the following terms and concepts after the lecture:

• automatic vs. voluntary attention
• response modulation by the behavioural relevance of a stimulus
• spatial vs. feature-based attention
• the biased-competition model of attention

You should know the following terms and concepts after the seminar

• feature-similarity gain model of attention

Learning objectives (Lernziele) - Lecture:

• Sensory information processing is a highly evolved and very powerful feed-forward system. In primate visual cortex it consists of a hierarchy of areas that consist of increasingly selective neurons.
• In higher mammals this feed-forward system is influenced by top-down attentional influences that cause a selective modulation of sensory information processing based on the behavioral relevance of a stimulus.
• The modulation can be directed under automatic or voluntary control. Voluntary visual attention can be directed to a location in space or a non- spatial feature (such as a particular direction of visual motion).

Learning objectives (Lernziele) - Seminar:

• To understand how an effect of feature-based attention can be shown at the level of single neurons.
• The similarity of spatial and feature-based attentional effects.
• To understand how the feature-similarity gain model of attention predicts the consequences of feature-based attentional modulation on the population response of an unattended vs. attended stimulus.

Topics addressed in the lecture:

• Stimulus-Sensation-Perception
• Structure of eye and retina
• Processing principles related to the structure of the retina
• Cone and rod photoreceptor types 
• Encoding of spatial information
• Encoding of color information

Examples for questions you should be able to answer:

• What is hierarchical coding?
• What is retinotopy?

Important concepts:

• Labeled-line coding
• Hierarchical vs. parallel vs. horizontal processing
• Receptive field
• Retinotopy
• Local coding
• Coarse coding

Last update of this page: Jan 16, 2018