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Neural Mechanisms for Feature-Based Attention

Award Number: R01EY029666
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 01/01/2019
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2028

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Neural Mechanisms for Feature-Based Attention - PROJECT SUMMARY. To find an object in a complex scene, we use feature-based attention to guide our search, typically in conjunction with spatial attention and targeting eye movements. When searching for our keys on a table, for example, the features of the keys are used as an attentional template that guides the eyes to the various objects sharing features with keys until the keys are found. Work from our own and other labs has found that objects with attended features or attended locations are processed more efficiently in visual cortex, while the processing of unattended, distracting objects is suppressed. To design an effective neural prosthesis or to treat people with sensory or attentional impairments, we need a better mechanistic understanding of these attentional mechanisms at the systems level. The interconnected structures important for the control of attention have many common features. At the surface level, these common features suggest there may be little difference in their functions. However, our results show surprising specificity instead. We find that the ventral pre-arcuate area (VPA) and the frontal eye fields (FEF) in prefrontal cortex (PFC) have different functions in visual search. Specifically, VPA appears to mediate the selection of likely targets based on their features, and FEF directs spatial attention and gaze to those possible targets until the object of the search, the target, is found. We hypothesize that VPA and FEF work together as an interconnected system for guiding gaze to objects we are searching for, and that they also provide attentional feedback to the occipital and temporal cortex, including the mid-superior temporal sulcus (mid-STS) region. This feedback biases visual processing in favor of attended target features. In Aim 1, we will test whether feedback from FEF to visual cortex and VPA is specific for attended locations, as we propose, or whether the feedback conveys priority values computed from both attended features and locations. In Aim 2, we will use electrical stimulation coupled with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to finely map the connectome of the mid-STS region, which receives projections from VPA and has been recently proposed as an important component of the system for the top-down control of attention. The published connectome will provide a test of anatomical mapping principles that we recently discovered in PFC, and it will be a valuable resource for the neuroscience community. In Aim 3, we will use neurophysiological recordings in VPA, FEF, the mid-STS, and other structures proposed to be important for attention, coupled with causal methods such as optogenetics and muscimol injections to test our hypotheses about the roles of the different components. One of the key innovations of this project is that we will map the connectivity of the recorded sites with electrical stimulation and fMRI so that we can target our recordings to the specific neuronal groups in different structures that are interconnected with one another. In total, we expect these studies to give us the best account so far of how the interactions among multiple brain structures leads to effective visual processing during attention to object features.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $555,564 )
2025	2025	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	77 MASSACHUSETTS AVE	CAMBRIDGE	MA	02139	MIDDLESEX	USA	Vision Research	002	7	3/13/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$555,564
2025	2024	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	77 MASSACHUSETTS AVE	CAMBRIDGE	MA	02139	MIDDLESEX	USA	Vision Research	001	6	2/14/2025	COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2025	2023	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	77 MASSACHUSETTS AVE	CAMBRIDGE	MA	02139	MIDDLESEX	USA	Vision Research	000	5	1/15/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $555,564

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $555,564 )
2024	2024	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	77 MASSACHUSETTS AVE	CAMBRIDGE	MA	02139	MIDDLESEX	USA	Vision Research	000	6	12/5/2023	COMPETING CONTINUATION	$555,564
														Subtotal = $555,564

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $498,039 )
2023	2023	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	77 MASSACHUSETTS AVE	CAMBRIDGE	MA	02139	MIDDLESEX	USA	Vision Research	001	5	3/8/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$49,804
2023	2023	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	77 MASSACHUSETTS AVE	CAMBRIDGE	MA	02139	MIDDLESEX	USA	Vision Research	000	5	12/14/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$448,235
														Subtotal = $498,039

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $483,096 )
2022	2022	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	77 MASSACHUSETTS AVE	CAMBRIDGE	MA	02139	MIDDLESEX	USA	Vision Research	001	4	4/4/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$34,861
2022	2022	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	77 MASSACHUSETTS AVE	CAMBRIDGE	MA	02139	MIDDLESEX	USA	Vision Research	000	4	12/14/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$448,235
														Subtotal = $483,096

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $498,039 )
2021	2021	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	77 MASSACHUSETTS AVE	CAMBRIDGE	MA	02139	MIDDLESEX	USA	Vision Research	001	3	2/25/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$49,804
2021	2021	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	77 MASSACHUSETTS AVE	CAMBRIDGE	MA	02139	MIDDLESEX	USA	Vision Research	000	3	12/9/2020	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$448,235
														Subtotal = $498,039

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $498,039 )
2020	2020	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	77 MASSACHUSETTS AVE	CAMBRIDGE	MA	02139	MIDDLESEX	USA	Vision Research	000	2	12/12/2019	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$448,235
2020	2020	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	77 MASSACHUSETTS AVE	CAMBRIDGE	MA	02139	MIDDLESEX	USA	Vision Research	001	2	1/27/2020	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$49,804
														Subtotal = $498,039

Issue Date FY: 2019 ( Subtotal = $498,039 )
2019	2019	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	77 MASSACHUSETTS AVE	CAMBRIDGE	MA	02139	MIDDLESEX	USA	Vision Research	000	1	12/26/2018	NEW	$498,039
														Subtotal = $498,039

Grand Total All Awards = $3,586,380

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Neural Mechanisms for Feature-Based Attention

Award Number: R01EY029666

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 01/01/2019

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2028

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