Many studies have revealed the top-down modulation (spatial attention, attentional load, etc.) on unconscious processing. However, there is little research about how category-selective attention could modulate the unconscious processing. In the present study, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the results showed that category-selective attention modulated unconscious face/tool ...

A fundamental issue in cortical processing of sensory information is whether top-down control circuits from higher brain areas to primary sensory areas not only modulate but actively engage in perception. Here, we report the identification of a neural circuit for top-down control in the mouse somatosensory system. The circuit consisted of a long-range reciprocal projection between M2 secondary ...

This thesis describes experimental work on the brain mechanisms underlying human visual selective attention, with a focus on top-down activity changes in visual cortex. Using a combination of methods, the experiments addressed related questions concerning the functional significance and putative origins of such activity modulations due to selective attention. More specifically, the experiment d...

Top-down perceptual influences can bias (or pre-empt) perception. In natural scenes, the receptive fields of neurons in the inferior temporal visual cortex (IT) shrink to become close to the size of objects. This facilitates the read-out of information from the ventral visual system, because the information is primarily about the object at the fovea. Top-down attentional influences are much les...

The aim of this study was to clarify the nature of visual processing deficits caused by cerebellar disorders. We studied the performance of two types of visual search (top-down visual scanning and bottom-up visual scanning) in 18 patients with pure cerebellar types of spinocerebellar degeneration (SCA6: 11; SCA31: 7). The gaze fixation position was recorded with an eye-tracking device while the...

The present study aimed to examine any possible relevance of perfectionism as a personal trait variable, in moderating the effectiveness of meta-cognitive instruction on bottom-up and top-down sub-processes of listening comprehension with a sample of EFL learners in Iranian context. To this end, 94 female EFL learners were selected from among 136 EFL learners at Andisheh Language Institute in M...

Listening is regarded as an interactive process involving decoding of information. This study was launched to find out the impact of bottom-up (BU) and top-down (TD) techniques on Iranian lower and upper intermediate learners’ listening comprehension. We selected a total of 120 participants in six intact classes, three lower intermediate and three upper intermediate. The proficiency level of th...

A typical scene contains many different objects that compete for neural representation due to the limited processing capacity of the visual system. At the neural level, competition among multiple stimuli is evidenced by the mutual suppression of their visually evoked responses and occurs most strongly at the level of the receptive field. The competition among multiple objects can be biased by b...

Top-down, feedback, influences are known to have significant effects on visual information processing. Such influences are also likely to affect perceptual learning. This article employs a computational model of the cortical region interactions underlying visual perception to investigate possible influences of top-down information on learning. The results suggest that feedback could bias the wa...