# Interactions between attention and arousal in shaping V4 population activity in macaque

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON · 2021 · $33,526

## Abstract

Abstract
 An important goal of systems neuroscience is to understand how the brain effectively uses sensory
information across constantly shifting and diverse contexts. Sensory encoding and perception are strongly
modulated by internal cognitive variables, most notably by attention and arousal. Despite their key role, how they
work together to shape cortical network activity remains largely unknown. This work will characterize how visual
cortical networks encode stimuli and influence perception when influenced by attention and arousal, both
independently and synergistically. Arousal and attention improve visual encoding accuracy by modulating cortical
networks. Arousal improves visual encoding nonspecifically, whereas attention only improves visual encoding
for stimuli within an attended region of the field of view. These modulatory systems improve perception of near-
threshold stimuli, in part through enhancing the response magnitude generated by neurons encoding these
stimuli. It is possible that these cognitive factors would combine, resulting in particularly strong increases in
stimulus-evoked neural responses and perception. However, attention works through both enhancing the
representation of the attended stimuli and concomitantly suppressing unattended, distractor stimuli. Therefore,
attention and arousal may negatively interact because arousal is nonspecific, increasing responses to
distractors. Gaining insights into the nature of this interaction will require a novel behavioral paradigm, in which
both attention and arousal can be modulated separately or together. To this end, I have developed a primate
locomotion system that enables monkeys to walk while head-restrained and performing cued-attention visual
tasks. Spatial attention in the primate visual system is a well-studied, robust phenomenon that makes use of
machinery shared with that of humans. Furthermore, my preliminary data strongly suggests that primates, like
mice, exhibit locomotion-induced increases in cortical arousal, as indicated by reduced low-frequency oscillations
and increased pupil diameter and neural firing rates. Therefore, this novel behavioral paradigm represents an
ideal way to characterize the interaction between attention and arousal in visual cortical networks. In Aim 1, I will
determine how locomotion influences the state of visual cortical networks by recording the activity of large
populations of neurons in area V4 during stationary and locomotion conditions in the absence of visual stimuli.
In Aim 2, I will characterize how locomotion-induced arousal modulates how this network encodes visual stimuli
and the impact it has on stimulus perception by recording neural activity as monkeys perform a delayed match-
to-sample orientation-change detection task in stationary and locomotion conditions. In Aim 3, I will determine
the impact on perception and visual encoding of combined locomotion-induced arousal and attentional
modulation by recording neural activity ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10070512
- **Project number:** 5F31EY029984-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Russell Milton
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $33,526
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-12-01 → 2021-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10070512

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10070512, Interactions between attention and arousal in shaping V4 population activity in macaque (5F31EY029984-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-11 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10070512. Licensed CC0.

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