Selective attention involves a feature-specific sequential release from inhibitory gating

• Published in: NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Vol. 246; p. 118782
• Main Authors: Pagnotta, Mattia F., Pascucci, David, Plomp, Gijs
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.02.2022; Elsevier Limited; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Alpha rhythm; Alpha Rhythm - physiology; Attention; Attention - physiology; Brain architecture; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Cognitive ability; Communication; Connectome; EEG; Electroencephalography; Experiments; Feature-based attention; Female; Functional connectivity; Functional morphology; Gating; Human subjects; Humans; Information processing; Inhibitory gating; Male; Nerve Net - physiology; Neural Inhibition - physiology; Neural networks; Rhythms; Sensory Gating - physiology; Young Adult; Functional connectivity; Alpha rhythm; Feature-based attention; Inhibitory gating
• ISSN: 1053-8119; 1095-9572; 1095-9572
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118782

Selective attention is a fundamental cognitive mechanism that allows our brain to preferentially process relevant sensory information, while filtering out distracting information. Attention is thought to flexibly gate the communication of irrelevant information through top-down alpha-rhythmic (8–12 Hz) functional connections, which influence early visual processing. However, the dynamic effects of top-down influence on downstream visual processing remain unknown. Here, we used electroencephalography to investigate local and network effects of selective attention while subjects attended to distinct features of identical stimuli. We found that attention-related changes in the functional brain network organization emerge shortly after stimulus onset, accompanied by an overall decrease of functional connectivity. Signatures of attentional selection were evident from a sequential release from alpha-band parietal gating in feature-selective areas. The directed connectivity paths and temporal evolution of this release from gating were consistent with the sensory effect of each feature, providing a neural basis for how visual processing quickly prioritizes relevant information in functionally specialized areas.