Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Modulation of neuronal activity by target uncertainty

  • Letter
  • Published:

From Nature

View current issue Submit your manuscript

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1: Behavioural task used for separating target uncertainty from target selection.
Figure 2: Decreased neuronal activity with increased uncertainty.
Figure 3: All neurons showed decreased activity with increased uncertainty.
Figure 4: Uncertainty effects persist with individual visual stimuli.

References

  1. Maunsell, J. H. R. The brain's visual world: representation of visual targets in cerebral cortex. Science 270, 764–769 (1995).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Schall, J. D. & Hanes, D. P. Neural basis of saccade target selection in frontal eye field during visual search. Nature 366, 467–469 (1993).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Schall, J. D., Hanes, D. P., Thompson, K. G. & King, D. J. Saccade target selection in frontal eye field of macaque. I. Visual and premovement activation. J. Neurosci. 15, 6905–6918 (1995).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Kusunoki, M. & Goldberg, M. E. Responses of parietal visual neurons to attentionally significant stable objects. Soc. Neurosci. Abstr. 21, 665 (1995).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Shadlen, M. N. & Newsome, W. T. Motion perception: Seeing and deciding. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 93, 628–633 (1996).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Glimcher, P. W. & Sparks, D. L. Movement selection in advance of action in the superior colliculus. Nature 355, 542–545 (1992).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. 7. Munoz, D. P. & Wurtz, R. H. Saccade-related activity in monkey superior colliculus. I. Characteristics of burst and buildup cells. J. Neurophysiol. 73, 2313–2333 (1995).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Kustov, A. A. & Robinson, D. L. Shared neural control of attentional shifts and eye movements. Nature 384, 74–77 (1996).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Sparks, D. L. & Hartwich-Young, R. in The Neurobiology of Saccadic Eye Movements, Reviews of Oculomotor Research, Vol. III(eds Wurtz, R. H. &Goldberg, M. E.) 213–256 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, (1989)).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Miyashita, N. & Hikosaka, O. Minimal synaptic delay in the saccadic output pathway of the superior colliculus studied in awake monkey. Exp. Brain Res. 112, 187–196 (1996).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Moran, J. & Desimone, R. Selective attention gates visual processing in extrastriate cortex. Science 229, 782–784 (1985).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Treue, S. & Maunsell, J. H. Attentional modulation of visual motion processing in cortical areas MT and MST. Nature 382, 539–541 (1996).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Motter, B. C. Focal attention produces spatially selective processing in visual cortical areas V1, V2, and V4 in the presence of competing stimuli. J. Neurophysiol. 70, 909–919 (1993).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Treisman, A. M. & Gelade, G. Afeature-integration theory of attention. Cogn. Psych. 12, 97–136 (1980).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Bravo, M. J. & Makayama, K. The role of attention in different visual-search tasks. Percept. Psychophys. 51, 465–472 (1992).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Goldberg, M. E. & Wurtz, R. H. Activity of superior colliculus in behaving monkeys. II. Effect of attention on neuronal responses. J. Neurophysiol. 35, 560–574 (1972).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the Laboratory of Diagnostic Radiology Research for magnetic resonance images. We thank J. Steinberg for secretarial assistance preparing the manuscript. We gratefully acknowledge the critical comments made on previous versions by J. Gottlieb and M. A. Sommer.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, 20892-4435, Maryland, USA

    Michele A. Basso & Robert H. Wurtz

Authors
  1. Michele A. Basso
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Robert H. Wurtz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michele A. Basso.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Basso, M., Wurtz, R. Modulation of neuronal activity by target uncertainty. Nature 389, 66–69 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/37975

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/37975

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation