Disorders of perception, attention, and memory frequently accompany the major mental diseases. To understand the neural mechanisms of these mental processes, we are recording the activity of neurons in the extrastriate and prefrontal cortex of monkeys engaged in tasks requiring stimulus discrimination, attention, and memory. When confronted by multiple stimuli, cells in extrastriate cortex appear to engage in competitive interactions, and top-down signals bias these interactions in favor of cells representing the stimulus that is relevant to the task at hand. This bias appears to be accomplished, in part, through high-frequency (gamma) synchronization of the cells carrying the relevant information. Some of the sources of the top-down signals appear to be located in prefrontal and posterior parietal cortex.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Intramural Research (Z01)
Project #
1Z01MH002036-25
Application #
7135786
Study Section
(LN)
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
25
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
U.S. National Institute of Mental Health
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
State
Country
United States
Zip Code
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