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Figure-ground mechanisms provide structure for selective attention

Nature Neuroscience volume 10, pages 1492–1499 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Attention depends on figure-ground organization: figures draw attention, whereas shapes of the ground tend to be ignored. Recent research has revealed mechanisms for figure-ground organization in the visual cortex, but how these mechanisms relate to the attention process remains unclear. Here we show that the influences of figure-ground organization and volitional (top-down) attention converge in single neurons of area V2 in Macaca mulatta. Although we found assignment of border ownership for attended and for ignored figures, attentional modulation was stronger when the attended figure was located on the neuron's preferred side of border ownership. When the border between two overlapping figures was placed in the receptive field, responses depended on the side of attention, and enhancement was generally found on the neuron's preferred side of border ownership. This correlation suggests that the neural network that creates figure-ground organization also provides the interface for the top-down selection process.

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Figure 1: Perception tends to segregate the optical image into figure and ground regions.
Figure 2: Motivation and experimental design.
Figure 3: Convergence of border ownership and attention influences in V2 neurons.
Figure 4: The time course of border-ownership signal and attention modulation.
Figure 5: The responses of two example neurons to the border between overlapping figures.
Figure 6: Correlation between border-ownership modulation and spatial asymmetry of attention effect.
Figure 7: A model of figure-ground organization and selective attention.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank T.J. Macuda for help with the behavioral training of monkey TE; S. Mihalas, E. Niebur, P.J. O'Herron and N.R. Zhang for suggestions and critical comments on the manuscript and O. Garalde for technical assistance. This research was supported by US National Institutes of Health grants EY02966 and EY16281.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Krieger Mind/Brain Institute and Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, 21218, Maryland, USA

    Fangtu T Qiu, Tadashi Sugihara & Rüdiger von der Heydt

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  1. Fangtu T Qiu
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  2. Tadashi Sugihara
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  3. Rüdiger von der Heydt
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Correspondence to Rüdiger von der Heydt.

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Qiu, F., Sugihara, T. & von der Heydt, R. Figure-ground mechanisms provide structure for selective attention. Nat Neurosci 10, 1492–1499 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1989

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