Object decoding with attention in inferior temporal cortex

Ying Zhang, Ethan M Meyers, Narcisse P Bichot, Thomas Serre, Tomaso A Poggio, Robert Desimone. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, May 2011.

Abstract

Recognizing objects in cluttered scenes requires attentional mechanisms to filter out distracting information. Previous studies have found several physiological correlates of attention in visual cortex, including larger responses for attended objects. However, it has been unclear whether these attention-related changes have a large impact on information about objects at the neural population level. To address this question, we trained monkeys to covertly deploy their visual attention from a…