Analysing a visual scene requires the brain to briefly keep in memory potentially relevant items of that scene and then direct attention to their locations for detailed processing. To reveal the neuronal basis of the underlying working memory and top-down attention processes, we trained macaques to match two patterns presented with a delay between them. As the above processes are likely to require communication between brain regions, and the parietal cortex is known to be involved in spatial attention, we simultaneously recorded neuronal activities from the interconnected parietal and middle temporal areas. We found that mnemonic information about features of the first pattern was retained in coherent oscillating activity between the two areas in high-frequency bands, followed by coherent activity in lower frequency bands mediating top-down attention on the relevant spatial location. Oscillations maintaining featural information also modulated activity of the cells of the parietal cortex that mediate attention. This could potentially enable transfer of information to organize top-down signals necessary for selective attention. Our results provide evidence in support of a two-stage model of visual attention where the first stage involves creating a saliency map representing a visual scene and at the second stage attentional feedback is provided to cortical areas involved in detailed analysis of the attended parts of a scene.

分析视觉场景需要大脑短暂地记住该场景的潜在相关项目，然后将注意力集中在它们的位置以进行详细处理。为了揭示潜在工作记忆和自上而下注意过程的神经元基础，我们训练猕猴匹配两种模式，它们之间存在延迟。由于上述过程可能需要大脑区域之间的交流，并且已知顶叶皮层参与空间注意力，我们同时记录了来自相互连接的顶叶和中颞区的神经元活动。我们发现关于第一个模式特征的助记信息保留在高频段两个区域之间的相干振荡活动中，其次是较低频段的相干活动，介导对相关空间位置的自上而下的关注。维持特征信息的振荡也调节了介导注意力的顶叶皮层细胞的活动。这可能使信息传输能够组织选择性注意所需的自上而下的信号。我们的结果提供了支持视觉注意的两阶段模型的证据，其中第一阶段涉及创建代表视觉场景的显着图，第二阶段将注意力反馈提供给皮层区域，参与详细分析的参与部分场景。这可能使信息传输能够组织选择性注意所需的自上而下的信号。我们的结果提供了支持视觉注意的两阶段模型的证据，其中第一阶段涉及创建代表视觉场景的显着图，第二阶段将注意力反馈提供给皮层区域，参与详细分析的参与部分场景。这可能使信息传输能够组织选择性注意所需的自上而下的信号。我们的结果提供了支持视觉注意的两阶段模型的证据，其中第一阶段涉及创建代表视觉场景的显着图，第二阶段将注意力反馈提供给皮层区域，参与详细分析的参与部分场景。