Attention exerts a strong influence over neuronal processing in cortical areas,. It selectively
increases firing rates,, and affects tuning properties,, including changing receptive field …

Rhythmic activity of neuronal ensembles has been proposed to play an important role in
cognitive functions such as attention, perception, and memory. Here we investigate whether …

Neurons in primary visual cortex exhibit well documented centre–surround receptive field
organization, whereby the centre is dominated by excitatory influences and the surround is …

Dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) receive cholinergic innervation from
brainstem structures that are associated with either movement or reward. Whereas …

Attention improves perception by affecting different aspects of the neuronal code. It
enhances firing rates, it reduces firing rate variability and noise correlations of neurons, and …

Achieving behavioral goals requires integration of sensory and cognitive information across
cortical laminae and cortical regions. How this computation is performed remains unknown …

Flexibly applying abstract rules is a hallmark feature of executive functioning represented by
prefrontal cortex (PFC) neurons. Prefrontal networks are regulated by the neuromodulator …

Attention can selectively enhance neuronal responses and exclude external noise, but the
neuronal computations that underlie these effects remain unknown. At the neuronal level …

Serotonin, an important neuromodulator in the brain, is implicated in affective and cognitive
functions. However, its role even for basic cortical processes is controversial. For example …

Spontaneous fluctuations in cortical excitability influence sensory processing and behavior.
These fluctuations, long thought to reflect global changes in cortical state, were recently …