Biomedical subjects

Brian E Russ

Publications and source records attributed to Brian E Russ.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Responses of neurons in the lateral intraparietal area to central visual cues.

Goal-directed behavior is characterized by flexible stimulus-action mappings. The lateral intraparietal area (area LIP) contains a representation of extra-personal space that is used to guide goal-directed behavior. To examine further how area LIP contributes to these flexible stimulus-action mappings, we recorded LIP activity while rhesus monkeys participated in two different cueing tasks. In the first task, the color of a central light indicated the location of a monkey's saccadic endpoint in the absence of any other visual stimuli. In the second task, the color of a central light indicated which of two visual targets was the saccadic goal. In both tasks, LIP activity was modulated by these non-spatial cues. These observations further suggest a role for area LIP in mediating endogenous associations that link stimuli with actions.

Action Potentials↗

PubMed2005

Auditory processing in the posterior parietal cortex.

Goal-directed behavior can be characterized as a dynamic link between a sensory stimulus and a motor act. Neural correlates of many of the intermediate events of goal-directed behavior are found in the posterior parietal cortex. Although the parietal cortex's role in guiding visual behaviors has received considerable attention, relatively little is known about its role in mediating auditory behaviors. Here, the authors review recent studies that have focused on how neurons in the lateral intraparietal area (area LIP) differentially process auditory and visual stimuli. These studies suggest that area LIP contains a modality-dependent representation that is highly dependent on behavioral context.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2004

Selectivity for the spatial and nonspatial attributes of auditory stimuli in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex.

Spatial and nonspatial auditory processing is hypothesized to occur in parallel dorsal and ventral pathways, respectively. In this study, we tested the spatial and nonspatial sensitivity of auditory neurons in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vPFC), a cortical area in the hypothetical nonspatial pathway. We found that vPFC neurons were modulated significantly by both the spatial and nonspatial attributes of an auditory stimulus. When comparing these responses with those in anterolateral belt region of the auditory cortex, which is hypothesized to be specialized for processing the nonspatial attributes of auditory stimuli, we found that the nonspatial sensitivity of vPFC neurons was poorer, whereas the spatial selectivity was better than anterolateral neurons. Also, the spatial and nonspatial sensitivity of vPFC neurons was comparable with that seen in the lateral intraparietal area, a cortical area that is a part of the dorsal pathway. These data suggest that substantial spatial and nonspatial processing occurs in both the dorsal and ventral pathways.

Action Potentials↗