Premium
Attention‐dependent coupling between beta activities recorded in the cat's thalamic and cortical representations of the central visual field
Author(s) -
Bekisz Marek,
Wróbel Andrzej
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1460-9568.2003.02454.x
Subject(s) - visual cortex , lateral geniculate nucleus , neuroscience , local field potential , electrophysiology , auditory cortex , coupling (piping) , psychology , beta (programming language) , visual n1 , thalamus , physics , sensory system , visual field , cortex (anatomy) , visual perception , perception , computer science , mechanical engineering , engineering , programming language
We have previously proposed that enhanced 16–24 Hz (beta) local field potential activity in the primary visual cortex and lateral geniculate nucleus may be an electrophysiological correlate of the attentional mechanism that increases the gain of afferent visual information flow to the cortex. In this study, we measured coupling between beta signals recorded in the thalamic (i.e. lateral geniculate or perigeniculate) and cortical representations of the central visual field (within 5° from area centralis ), during visual and auditory attentive situations. Signal coupling was calculated in two ways: (i) by means of crosscorrelation between raw beta activities, which depends primarily on phase coherence, and (ii) by phase‐independent crosscorrelation between amplitude envelopes of beta activities. Mean amplitudes of raw signal crosscorrelations obtained for thalamo‐cortical recording pairs were not significantly different when calculated during behavioural demands for either visual or auditory attention. In contrast, amplitudes of envelope crosscorrelations obtained during behaviour requiring visual attention were, on average, two times higher than those calculated during the auditory task. This attention‐related coupling emerged from synchronized amplitude modulation of beta oscillatory activity that occurs within the cortico‐thalamic circuit involved in central vision.