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PSY396 Lecture 6: Neural Basis of Attention and Executive Function -…
PSY396 Lecture 6: Neural Basis of Attention and Executive Function
Role of Parietal Lobes in Spatial Attentional Control.
Parietal lobes = "where" route
Lateral-intra-parietal (LIP) area
Codes a salience map
Connecting sensory stimuli to motor response
Responsible for attention motivated by the stimulus (Exogenous orientation)
Frontal-parietal attentional mechanisms
LIP and frontal eye field active when perceiving orienting cues. Even if no overt motor response is necessary.
Dorso-dorsal pathway (LIP + FEF) = orienting in a salience map
Ventro-dorsal pathway (Involves temporoparietal junction (TPJ)) = circuit breaker (Divert attention elsewhere).
interfaces between regions involved in executive control (top-down aspects of attention) and regions involved in perceptual processing (bottom-up aspects of attention).
When stimulus is obvious = Occipital stim -> LIP -> PFC + FEF.
BOTTOM-UP
When searching is necessary for stimulus = PFC + FEF -> LIP.
TOP-DOWN
Right parietal lobe is more specialized for
spatial attention than the left.
Hemispheric differences
Posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and salience
Left PPC = non-salient stimuli
Right PPC = Salient stimuli
E.g. stroke affecting the right PPC, will lead to difficulty recognising salient stimuli.
Parietal lobes represent full visual field, Max responsiveness (left) to min. responsiveness (right) GRADED VISUAL REPRESENTATION.
Attention being a limited resource, with less of the resource available for (bottom-up)
processing of irrelevant perceptual information when (top-down) task demands are high.
Attention, perception and awareness can be individually investigated through cognitive neuroscience methods.
Role of Prefrontal Cortex + anterior cingulate gyrus in exectutive function
Executive function
Optimizes performace in situations where multiple cognitive processes are required.
LInked to prefrontal cortex.
Controls thoughts and ideas without motor output.
Supervisory attentional system
E.g. having to drive a different route home due to roadworks.
Autopilot = top-down
Necessary, unfamiliar adjustment = bottom-up.
Inhibitory Function is a form of executive control
WM connects right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG), Pre-supplementary motor are (Pre-SMA), and subthalamic nucleus.
Theories of Attn.
Feature Integration Theory (Treisman & Gelade, 1980)
Disctinctive features such as colour and shape are coded prior to attention
Biased Competition Theory (Desimone & Duncan, 1995)
Attention is a broad set of mechanisms, not a single module in the brain.
How changes in brain structure manifest to brain function, and
consequently behaviours
Phineas Gage
Iron rod through left frontal cortex.
Mainly damage to WM
Discredited phrenology and supported the notion of neural plasticity.