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