Auditory and visual attentional control in Rhesus macaques Restricted; Files Only

Abstract

Monkeys have similar brains to humans but lack language. Neurophysiological and behavioral research with children diagnosed with language difficulties found impairments in modulation of auditory attention but not visual attention. Comparing attentional control across audition and vision in monkeys may help us determine the extent to which attentional processes are modality-independent. I measured attentional control in both auditory and visual domains in monkeys. I presented monkeys with either auditory or visual stimuli. To make a correct response, monkeys had to attend to the target stimulus and ignore flankers. Flankers could be one of three types. Congruent flankers were the same as the target leading to no conflict; Neutral flankers were different than the target but not associated with any response leading to perceptual conflict; Incongruent flankers were different than the target and instructed a competing response leading to both perceptual and response conflict. Six monkeys were more accurate than expected by chance in the presence of all flanker types across both modalities, indicating attentional control. Additionally, error analysis showed that flankers both distracted and sometimes gained control of responding. But patterns of accuracy differed in the auditory and visual domains between Neutral and Incongruent flankers, suggesting that attentional control may differ between modalities. Thus, while monkeys did get distracted by flankers in both domains, they may have been impacted by perceptual and response conflict differently, pointing towards the possibility that separate attentional processes may be operating in the two modalities. 

Table of Contents

Introduction

Subjects

Apparatus and Materials

Previous Training

Stimuli

Procedure

Results and Discussion

References

About this Master's Thesis

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Psychology
Subfield / Discipline	Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience
Degree	M.A.
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Psychology, Cognitive Biology, Evolution and Development
Keyword	Modality Cognitive Evolution Attention
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Robert R. Hampton, Emory University
Committee Members	Stella F. Lourenco, Emory University Benjamin Wilson, Emory University

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