Digital Commons Network^™

Cholinergic, But Not Dopaminergic Or Noradrenergic, Enhancement Sharpens Visual Spatial Perception In Humans, Caterina Gratton, Sahar Yousef, Esther Aarts, Deanna L. Wallace, Mark D'Esposito, Michael A. Silver

Open Access Publications

The neuromodulator acetylcholine modulates spatial integration in visual cortex by altering the balance of inputs that generate neuronal receptive fields. These cholinergic effects may provide a neurobiological mechanism underlying the modulation of visual representations by visual spatial attention. However, the consequences of cholinergic enhancement on visuospatial perception in humans are unknown. We conducted two experiments to test whether enhancing cholinergic signaling selectively alters perceptual measures of visuospatial interactions in human subjects. In Experiment 1, a double-blind placebo-controlled pharmacology study, we measured how flanking distractors influenced detection of a small contrast decrement of a peripheral target, as a function of target-flanker …