Attention-dependent processing of motion in middle temporal area and striate cortex and its relation to behavioral detection speed

Abstract

This cumulative thesis comprises of two published articles, a manuscript and two additional chapters serving as introduction and complementary section. In the reported studies the influence of covert attention onto the processing of motion in the middle temporal area and primary cortex of the macaque monkey brain is investigated. In the first part, evidence for a novel form of visual attention that is based on the class of the attended image properties is documented. In the second study a neural mechanism that is correlative of the subject's reaction time is identified and discussed. This findings deepen the insight on how oscillations of neural groups between brain areas interact and how this interaction might contribute to the observed reaction times. Finally an investigation that contributes to the analytical toolset needed for neuroscientific signal processing is reported.