What was the important discovery in Moran and Desimone's study on attention, which involved recording the activity of individual neurons in the monkey visual cortex while attention was shifted within each cell's receptive field?
A) It showed that if attention was focused on the preferred stimulus the cell produced a variable number of action potentials, depending on what the stimulus was.
B) It showed that when attention was focused on the preferred stimulus the cell produced few action potentials but when attention (not gaze) was shifted, the stimulus provoked far more action potentials.
C) It showed that when attention was focused on the preferred stimulus the cell produced many action potentials, but when attention (not gaze) was shifted, the stimulus provoked far fewer action potentials.
D) It showed that the cell produced few action potentials regardless of whether the attention was on the preferred or ineffective stimulus.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Moran and Desimone's study demonstrated that when attention was directed towards a neuron's preferred stimulus within its receptive field, the neuron fired many action potentials. Conversely, when attention was shifted away from the preferred stimulus (without moving the gaze), the neuron's activity decreased, showing fewer action potentials. This finding highlighted the significant role of attention in modulating the activity of neurons in the visual cortex, indicating that attention can enhance the neural response to preferred stimuli.

What Was the Important Discovery in Moran and Desimone's Study