Impaired Visual Search in Rats Reveals Cholinergic Contributions to Feature Binding in Visuospatial Attention

被引:24
作者
Botly, Leigh C. P. [1 ]
De Rosa, Eve [1 ,2 ]
机构
[1] Univ Toronto, Dept Psychol, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada
[2] Baycrest Ctr Geriatr Care, Rotman Res Inst, Toronto, ON M6A 2E1, Canada
关键词
acetylcholine; basal forebrain; nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM); CORTICAL ACETYLCHOLINE-RELEASE; SERIAL REACTION-TIME; SUSTAINED ATTENTION; ILLUSORY CONJUNCTIONS; ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE; PARIETAL CORTEX; PERFORMANCE; LESIONS; DISCRIMINATION; INCREASES;
D O I
10.1093/cercor/bhr331
中图分类号
Q189 [神经科学];
学科分类号
071006 [神经生物学];
摘要
The visual search task established the feature integration theory of attention in humans and measures visuospatial attentional contributions to feature binding. We recently demonstrated that the neuromodulator acetylcholine (ACh), from the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM), supports the attentional processes required for feature binding using a rat digging-based task. Additional research has demonstrated cholinergic contributions from the NBM to visuospatial attention in rats. Here, we combined these lines of evidence and employed visual search in rats to examine whether cortical cholinergic input supports visuospatial attention specifically for feature binding. We trained 18 male Long-Evans rats to perform visual search using touch screen-equipped operant chambers. Sessions comprised Feature Search (no feature binding required) and Conjunctive Search (feature binding required) trials using multiple stimulus set sizes. Following acquisition of visual search, 8 rats received bilateral NBM lesions using 192 IgG-saporin to selectively reduce cholinergic afferentation of the neocortex, which we hypothesized would selectively disrupt the visuospatial attentional processes needed for efficient conjunctive visual search. As expected, relative to sham-lesioned rats, ACh-NBM-lesioned rats took significantly longer to locate the target stimulus on Conjunctive Search, but not Feature Search trials, thus demonstrating that cholinergic contributions to visuospatial attention are important for feature binding in rats.
引用
收藏
页码:2441 / 2453
页数:13
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