Journal Article

Distinct neural mechanisms of distractor suppression in the frontal and parietal lobe

Gottlieb, Jacqueline, Suzuki, Mototaka

2013

نظرة عامة

Here the authors show that the suppression of salient, but task-irrelevant, distractors is much stronger in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) than in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP). Their results suggest that, although both areas can contribute to perceptual selection, the dlPFC has a decisive influence on whether a salient stimulus influences actions. The posterior parietal cortex and the prefrontal cortex are associated with eye movements and visual attention, but their specific contributions are poorly understood. We compared the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) in monkeys using a memory saccade task in which a salient distractor flashed at a variable timing and location during the memory delay. We found that the two areas had similar responses to target selection, but made distinct contributions to distractor suppression. Distractor responses were more strongly suppressed and more closely correlated with performance in the dlPFC relative to LIP. Moreover, reversible inactivation of the dlPFC produced much larger increases in distractibility than inactivation of LIP. These findings suggest that LIP and dlPFC mediate different aspects of selective attention. Although both areas can contribute to the perceptual selection of salient information, the dlPFC has a decisive influence on whether and how attended stimulus is linked with actions.

• الناشر: Nature Publishing Group US,Nature Publishing Group
• موضوع: 631/378/1595/1636 / 631/378/2613 / 631/378/2649/1310 / Action Potentials - physiology / Analysis of Variance / Animal Genetics and Genomics / Animals / Attention - physiology / Behavioral Sciences / Biological Techniques / Biomedicine / Biophysics / Brain / Eye movements / Frontal Lobe - cytology / Frontal Lobe - drug effects / Frontal lobes / GABA-A Receptor Agonists - pharmacology / Inhibition (Psychology) / Macaca mulatta / Male / Memory / Models, Biological / Muscimol - pharmacology / Neurobiology / Neurons / Neurons - classification / Neurons - drug effects / Neurons - physiology / Neurosciences / Parietal Lobe - cytology / Parietal Lobe - drug effects / Parietal lobes / Physiological aspects / Saccades - physiology / Time Factors