Topic: target detection

Physical Exercise (PE) is widely acknowledged for its positive impact on cognition and specifically on short-term memory. However, the precise neurophysiological mechanisms of performance improvements are unclear. We developed an MEG-compatible pedal exercises – mimicking walking – to explore PE’s impact on working memory (WM). In simultaneous MEG/EEG recordings participants carried out an N-back task with varying WM loads across blocks and either rested or walked during 2-min-breaks between blocks. PE improved target detection, heightened EEG-spindle activity. MEG ripples (80-150Hz) displayed

Perceptual sensitivity varies from moment-to-moment with fluctuations in the gain of sensory-evoked responses. We previously found that intrinsic traveling waves (iTWs) of activity in marmoset Area MT regulate the gain of evoked responses for targets presented near perceptual threshold and correlate with the monkey’s detection performance (Davis, Muller, et al. Nature 2020; Davis, Benigno, et al. Nat. Communi. 2021). Here we ask whether target detection also depends on the spiking activity of neurons beyond the retinotopic locus of the target (off-target locations). We hypothesized that activi