TY - JOUR
T1 - Object selection by automatic spreading of top-down attentional signals in V1
AU - Ekman, Matthias
AU - Roelfsema, Pieter R.
AU - de Lange, Floris P.
PY - 2020/11/25
Y1 - 2020/11/25
N2 - What is selected when attention is directed to a specific location of the visual field? Theories of object-based attention have suggested that when spatial attention is directed to part of an object, attention does not simply enhance the attended location but automatically spreads to enhance all locations that comprise the object. Here, we tested this hypothesis by reconstructing the distribution of attention from primary visual cortex (V1) population neuronal activity patterns in 24 human adults (17 female) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and population-based receptive field (prf) mapping. We find that attention spreads from a spatially cued location to the underlying object, and enhances all spatial locations that comprise the object. Importantly, this spreading was also evident when the object was not task relevant. These data suggest that attentional selection automatically operates at an object level, facilitating the reconstruction of coherent objects from fragmented representations in early visual cortex.
AB - What is selected when attention is directed to a specific location of the visual field? Theories of object-based attention have suggested that when spatial attention is directed to part of an object, attention does not simply enhance the attended location but automatically spreads to enhance all locations that comprise the object. Here, we tested this hypothesis by reconstructing the distribution of attention from primary visual cortex (V1) population neuronal activity patterns in 24 human adults (17 female) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and population-based receptive field (prf) mapping. We find that attention spreads from a spatially cued location to the underlying object, and enhances all spatial locations that comprise the object. Importantly, this spreading was also evident when the object was not task relevant. These data suggest that attentional selection automatically operates at an object level, facilitating the reconstruction of coherent objects from fragmented representations in early visual cortex.
KW - Attention
KW - FMRI
KW - Object-based attention
KW - V1
KW - Visual cortex
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85096888281&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85096888281&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0438-20.2020
DO - https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0438-20.2020
M3 - Article
C2 - 33087475
SN - 0270-6474
VL - 40
SP - 9250
EP - 9259
JO - Journal of neuroscience
JF - Journal of neuroscience
IS - 48
ER -