Decoding Adaptive Visuomotor Behavior Mediated by Non-linear Phase Coupling in Macaque Area MT
The idea that a flexible behavior relies on synchronous neural activity within intra- and inter-associated cortical areas has been a matter of intense research in human and animal neuroscience. The neurophysiological mechanisms underlying this behavioral correlate of the synchronous activity are sti...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnins.2020.00230/full |
| _version_ | 1819060121435635712 |
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| author | Mohammad Bagher Khamechian Mohammad Reza Daliri Mohammad Reza Daliri |
| author_facet | Mohammad Bagher Khamechian Mohammad Reza Daliri Mohammad Reza Daliri |
| author_sort | Mohammad Bagher Khamechian |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The idea that a flexible behavior relies on synchronous neural activity within intra- and inter-associated cortical areas has been a matter of intense research in human and animal neuroscience. The neurophysiological mechanisms underlying this behavioral correlate of the synchronous activity are still unknown. It has been suggested that the strength of neural synchrony at the level of population is an important neural code to guide an efficient transformation of the sensory input into the behavioral action. In this study, we have examined the non-linear synchronization between neural ensembles in area MT of the macaque visual cortex by employing a non-linear cross-frequency coupling technique, namely bicoherence. We trained a macaque monkey to detect a brief change in the cued stimulus during a visuomotor detection task. The results show that the non-linear phase synchronization in the high-gamma frequency band (100–250 Hz) predicts the animal’s reaction time. The strength of non-linear phase synchronization is selective to the target stimulus location. In addition, the non-linearity characteristics of neural synchronization are selectively modulated when the monkey covertly attends to the stimulus inside the neuron’s receptive field. This additional evidence indicates that non-linear neuronal synchronization may be affected by a cognitive function like spatial attention. Our neural and behavioral observations reflect that two crucial processes may be involved in processing of visuomotor information in area MT: (I) a non-linear cortical process (measured by the bicoherence) and (II) a linear process (measured by the spectral power). |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T14:21:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4cd144c4144148489008d93edeaab16e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-453X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T14:21:57Z |
| publishDate | 2020-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-4cd144c4144148489008d93edeaab16e2022-12-21T19:00:45ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Neuroscience1662-453X2020-04-011410.3389/fnins.2020.00230497532Decoding Adaptive Visuomotor Behavior Mediated by Non-linear Phase Coupling in Macaque Area MTMohammad Bagher Khamechian0Mohammad Reza Daliri1Mohammad Reza Daliri2Neuroscience and Neuroengineering Research Lab, Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Electrical Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology, Tehran, IranNeuroscience and Neuroengineering Research Lab, Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Electrical Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology, Tehran, IranCognitive Neurobiology Laboratory, School of Cognitive Sciences (SCS), Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, IranThe idea that a flexible behavior relies on synchronous neural activity within intra- and inter-associated cortical areas has been a matter of intense research in human and animal neuroscience. The neurophysiological mechanisms underlying this behavioral correlate of the synchronous activity are still unknown. It has been suggested that the strength of neural synchrony at the level of population is an important neural code to guide an efficient transformation of the sensory input into the behavioral action. In this study, we have examined the non-linear synchronization between neural ensembles in area MT of the macaque visual cortex by employing a non-linear cross-frequency coupling technique, namely bicoherence. We trained a macaque monkey to detect a brief change in the cued stimulus during a visuomotor detection task. The results show that the non-linear phase synchronization in the high-gamma frequency band (100–250 Hz) predicts the animal’s reaction time. The strength of non-linear phase synchronization is selective to the target stimulus location. In addition, the non-linearity characteristics of neural synchronization are selectively modulated when the monkey covertly attends to the stimulus inside the neuron’s receptive field. This additional evidence indicates that non-linear neuronal synchronization may be affected by a cognitive function like spatial attention. Our neural and behavioral observations reflect that two crucial processes may be involved in processing of visuomotor information in area MT: (I) a non-linear cortical process (measured by the bicoherence) and (II) a linear process (measured by the spectral power).https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnins.2020.00230/fullbicoherencequadratic phase couplingnon-linear phase synchronizationvisual area MTspatial attention |
| spellingShingle | Mohammad Bagher Khamechian Mohammad Reza Daliri Mohammad Reza Daliri Decoding Adaptive Visuomotor Behavior Mediated by Non-linear Phase Coupling in Macaque Area MT Frontiers in Neuroscience bicoherence quadratic phase coupling non-linear phase synchronization visual area MT spatial attention |
| title | Decoding Adaptive Visuomotor Behavior Mediated by Non-linear Phase Coupling in Macaque Area MT |
| title_full | Decoding Adaptive Visuomotor Behavior Mediated by Non-linear Phase Coupling in Macaque Area MT |
| title_fullStr | Decoding Adaptive Visuomotor Behavior Mediated by Non-linear Phase Coupling in Macaque Area MT |
| title_full_unstemmed | Decoding Adaptive Visuomotor Behavior Mediated by Non-linear Phase Coupling in Macaque Area MT |
| title_short | Decoding Adaptive Visuomotor Behavior Mediated by Non-linear Phase Coupling in Macaque Area MT |
| title_sort | decoding adaptive visuomotor behavior mediated by non linear phase coupling in macaque area mt |
| topic | bicoherence quadratic phase coupling non-linear phase synchronization visual area MT spatial attention |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnins.2020.00230/full |
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