Ignashchenkova Alla, Dicke Peter W, Haarmeier Thomas, Thier Peter
Department of Cognitive Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tuebingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Str. 3, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany.
Nat Neurosci. 2004 Jan;7(1):56-64. doi: 10.1038/nn1169. Epub 2003 Dec 21.
The analysis of a peripheral visual location can be improved in two ways: either by orienting one's gaze (usually by making a foveating saccade) or by 'covertly' shifting one's attention to the peripheral location without making an eye movement. The premotor theory of attention holds that saccades and spatial shifts of attention share a common functional module with a distinct neuronal basis. Using single-unit recording from the brains of trained rhesus monkeys, we investigated whether the superior colliculus, the major subcortical center for the control of saccades, is part of this shared network for attention and saccades. Here we show that a distinct type of neuron in the intermediate layer of the superior colliculus, the visuomotor neuron, which is known to be centrally involved in the preparation of saccades, is also active during covert shifts of attention.
要么通过定向注视（通常是进行一次注视性扫视），要么通过“隐蔽地”将注意力转移到周边位置而不进行眼球运动。注意力的运动前理论认为，扫视和注意力的空间转移共享一个具有独特神经元基础的共同功能模块。我们通过对训练过的恒河猴大脑进行单神经元记录，研究了作为控制扫视的主要皮层下中枢的上丘是否是这个注意力和扫视共享网络的一部分。我们在此表明，上丘中间层一种独特类型的神经元，即视觉运动神经元，已知其在扫视准备过程中起核心作用，在注意力的隐蔽转移过程中也会活跃。
