Untersuchung des Einflusses von Aufmerksamkeit auf die Interaktion der Areale V1 und V4 des Rhesusaffen bei einem Formidentifikations-Paradigma

Abstract

To select behavioral relevant information from irrelevant, a mechanism is needed to change the strength of coupling between related neuronal populations. The hypothesis of communication through coherence (CTC) provides a possible mechanism. This was tested by having a macaque monkey solve a shape-identification-task. Intracortical extracellular recording of neuronal activity was made simultaneously in the visual areas V1 and V4. Results show modulation of coupling even on almost single cell level in V4. Coupling is strongly enhanced by attention between recorded cells in V4 and neuronal populations in V1 representing and processing the relevant stimulus, whereas coupling with V1 population representing and processing the irrelevant stimulus is much weaker. The hypothesis of CTC is strongly supported by the new findings presented in this thesis.