Synchronization as a mechanism for attentional modulation
References Neuronal responses can often be written as a product of two stimulus features: firing rate=f(x)g(y). For instance, contrast (y) modulates the gain of the orientation tuning curve (x) (McAdams & Maunsell, 1999). Attention may modulate neuronal response properties in a similar way. When attention is shifted to the receptive field of a neuron, the firing of the neuronmaybecome more synchronized with other similar units, as observed in somatosensory cortex (Steinmetz et al (2000)) or with the local field potential at gamma frequencies as reported for extrastriate cortex (Fries et al (2001)). Here we explore the hypothesis that synchrony modulates the gain of neuronal responses.