1] Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. [2] Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics, Foundation for Research and Technology, Hellas, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
Division of Neuroscience and Basic Behavioral Science, National Institute of Mental Health, US National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Nat Neurosci. 2014 Jul;17(7):1003-11. doi: 10.1038/nn.3742. Epub 2014 Jun 15.
It is widely held that the frontal eye field (FEF) in prefrontal cortex (PFC) modulates processing in visual cortex with attention, although the evidence that it is necessary is equivocal. To help identify critical sources of attentional feedback to area V4, we surgically removed the entire lateral PFC, including the FEF, in one hemisphere and transected the corpus callosum and anterior commissure in two macaques. This deprived V4 of PFC input in one hemisphere while keeping the other hemisphere intact. In the absence of PFC, attentional effects on neuronal responses and synchrony in V4 were substantially reduced and the remaining effects of attention were delayed in time, indicating a critical role for PFC. Conversely, distracters captured attention and influenced V4 responses. However, because the effects of attention in V4 were not eliminated by PFC lesions, other sources of top-down attentional control signals to visual cortex must exist outside of PFC.
人们普遍认为，前额叶皮层（PFC）中的额眼区（FEF）通过注意力调节视觉皮层的加工，尽管证明其必要性的证据尚无定论。为了帮助确定注意力反馈到 V4 区的关键来源，我们在两只猕猴中手术切除了整个外侧 PFC，包括 FEF，并横断了胼胝体和前连合。这使得 V4 失去了一侧半球的 PFC 输入，而另一侧半球保持完整。在没有 PFC 的情况下，注意力对 V4 神经元反应和同步性的影响大大降低，注意力的剩余影响在时间上延迟，表明 PFC 起着关键作用。相反，分心刺激会吸引注意力并影响 V4 的反应。然而，由于 PFC 损伤并没有消除 V4 中的注意力效应，因此，视觉皮层的自上而下的注意力控制信号的其他来源一定存在于 PFC 之外。
