Functional Differentiation of Dorsal and Ventral Posterior Parietal Cortex of the Rat: Implications for Controlled and Stimulus-Driven Attention

Abstract

Abstract The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is important for visuospatial attention. The primate PPC shows functional differentiation such that dorsal areas are implicated in top–down, controlled attention, and ventral areas are implicated in bottom–up, stimulus-driven attention. Whether the rat PPC also shows such functional differentiation is unknown. Here, we address this open question using functional neuroanatomy and in vivo electrophysiology. Using conventional tract-tracing methods, we examined connectivity with other structures implicated in visuospatial attention including the lateral posterior nucleus of the thalamus (LPn) and the postrhinal cortex (POR). We showed that the LPn projects to the entire PPC, preferentially targeting more ventral areas. All parts of the PPC and POR are reciprocally connected with the strongest connections evident between ventral PPC and caudal POR. Next, we simultaneously recorded neuronal activity in dorsal and ventral PPC as rats performed a visuospatial attention (VSA ) task that engages in both bottom–up and top–down attention. Previously, we provided evidence that the dorsal PPC is engaged in multiple cognitive process including controlled attention (Yang et al. 2017). Here, we further showed that ventral PPC cells respond to stimulus onset more rapidly than dorsal PPC cells, providing evidence for a role in stimulus-driven, bottom–up attention.