Simple, static, spiking nonlinearities can account for seemingly complex interactions between visual, motor and cognitive variables in the visual cortex.

In macaque visual areas V2 and V3 during a visual discrimination task, attentional, microsaccade, and choice effects are best explained by stimulus-independent input modulation producing gain via a spiking nonlinearity.

• Why it matters: Multiple task variables shape visual-cortex firing through nonlinear interactions, but it remains unclear how diverse signals are combined by circuit mechanisms.
• What they did: Neuronal responses were modeled in V2/V3 with a statistical framework that tests whether attentional, microsaccade-related, and choice-related influences can be captured by additive, stimulus-independent modulation implemented as gain through a spiking nonlinearity.
• The result: Microsaccade direction and microsaccade-related activity do not account for attentional modulation despite correlation, resolving a controversy and implying stable stimulus representations with flexible context-dependent control.

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