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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Comput. Neurosci.
Volume 18 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fncom.2024.1439632
Analyzing top-down visual attention in the context of gamma oscillations: a layer-dependent network-of-networks approach
Provisionally accepted- 1 Department of Precision Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan
- 2 Department of Mathematics, Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
- 3 Department of Human and Engineered Environmental Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan
Top-down visual attention is a fundamental cognitive process that allows individuals to selectively attend to salient visual stimuli in the environment. Recent empirical findings have revealed that gamma oscillations participate in the modulation of visual attention. However, computational studies face challenges when analyzing the attentional process in the context of gamma oscillation due to the unstable nature of gamma oscillations and the complexity induced by the layered fashion in the visual cortex. In this study, we propose a layer-dependent network-ofnetworks approach to analyze such attention with gamma oscillations. The model is validated by reproducing empirical findings on orientation preference and the enhancement of neuronal response due to top-down attention. We perform parameter plane analysis to classify neuronal responses into several patterns and find that the neuronal response to sensory and attention signals was modulated by the heterogeneity of the neuronal population. Furthermore, we revealed a counter-intuitive scenario that the excitatory populations in layer 2/3 and layer 5 exhibit opposite responses to the attentional input. By modification of the original model, we confirmed layer 6 plays an indispensable role in such cases. Our findings uncover the layer-dependent dynamics in the cortical processing of visual attention and open up new possibilities for further research on layer-dependent properties in the cerebral cortex.
Keywords: visual attention, mean-field approximation, gamma oscillation, cortical column, Orientation preference, quadratic integrate-
Received: 28 May 2024; Accepted: 03 Sep 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Zheng, Sugino, Jimbo, Ermentrout and Kotani. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Tianyi Zheng, Department of Precision Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, 113 - 8656, Tokyo, Japan
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