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Heterogeneity of cingulate contributions to spatial attention
M M Mesulam1, A C Nobre, Y H Kim
1Northwestern Cognitive Brain Mapping Group, Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Neuroimage
|May 16, 2001
Summary
The posterior cingulate cortex speeds up spatial target detection, especially with cue-induced attention. The anterior cingulate cortex likely handles other attentional tasks like response selection.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- The cingulate cortex plays a role in attention.
- Understanding its functional segregation is crucial for cognitive neuroscience.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate activation patterns in the cingulate region during spatial attention tasks.
- Determine the functional roles of anterior and posterior cingulate sectors.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed.
- Participants performed spatial cueing tasks to assess attention.
- Reaction times and accuracy were recorded.
Main Results:
- Posterior cingulate activation correlated strongly with target detection speed, particularly with cue effects.
- Anterior cingulate activation showed no correlation with reaction time.
- No other cortical regions showed significant correlations with task performance.
Conclusions:
- The cingulate cortex has at least two functionally distinct sectors: anterior (BA 24/32) and posterior (BA 23/29/30).
- The posterior sector is linked to the speed of spatial target detection influenced by cues.
- The anterior sector may mediate other attentional processes like performance monitoring.