Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Association Areas of the Cortex

Association Areas of the Cortex

Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Modality-agnostic decoding of vision and language from fMRI.

eLife·2026

Same author

Motivational sharpening of the interaction between spatial attention and motor control: insights from the monkey dorsal premotor cortex.

The Journal of physiology·2025

Same author

Longitudinal measures of monkey brain structure and activity through adolescence predict cognitive maturation.

Nature neuroscience·2025

Same author

The prefrontal cortex encodes task-identity information and flexibly adjusts its sensory processes as a function of the specific ongoing task.

PLoS biology·2025

Same author

Evidence for compositionality in fMRI visual representations via Brain Algebra.

Communications biology·2025

Same author

The macaque ventral intraparietal functional connectivity patterns reveal an anterio-posterior specialization mirroring that described in human ventral intraparietal area.

Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 28, 2025

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity

Published on: March 18, 2019

Prefrontal attentional saccades explore space rhythmically.

Corentin Gaillard¹, Sameh Ben Hadj Hassen¹, Fabio Di Bello¹

¹Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS UMR 5229, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, 69675, Bron, France.

Nature Communications

|February 19, 2020

Summary

The brain

More Related Videos

Using Saccadometry with Deep Brain Stimulation to Study Normal and Pathological Brain Function

Using Saccadometry with Deep Brain Stimulation to Study Normal and Pathological Brain Function

Published on: July 14, 2016

Eye Tracking Young Children with Autism

Eye Tracking Young Children with Autism

Published on: March 27, 2012

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Dec 28, 2025

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity

Published on: March 18, 2019

Using Saccadometry with Deep Brain Stimulation to Study Normal and Pathological Brain Function

Using Saccadometry with Deep Brain Stimulation to Study Normal and Pathological Brain Function

Published on: July 14, 2016

Eye Tracking Young Children with Autism

Eye Tracking Young Children with Autism

Published on: March 27, 2012

Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Neuroscience
Attention Research

Background:

Attention is thought to fluctuate rhythmically, involving frontoparietal network interactions.
The relationship between these attentional rhythms and spatial exploration/selection remains unclear.
Top-down control mechanisms influencing dynamic attentional spotlight behavior require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the direct contribution of prefrontal attention selection mechanisms to continuous spatial exploration.
To decode the covert attentional spotlight with high spatio-temporal resolution using prefrontal population activity.
To understand how attentional rhythms facilitate spatial exploration and optimize sensory processing.

Main Methods:

High spatio-temporal resolution prefrontal population decoding was employed.
Analysis focused on the rhythmic nature of the covert attentional spotlight.
The influence of attentional phase on sensory encoding and behavioral reports was examined.

Main Results:

A continuous exploration of space by the covert attentional spotlight at a 7-12 Hz rhythm was demonstrated.
Optimal phases within this rhythm were identified, correlating with enhanced sensory encoding and behavioral reports.
Prefrontal neuronal rhythms were proposed to reflect alpha-clocked visual sampling, independent of eye movements.

Conclusions:

Prefrontal attention selection mechanisms directly contribute to continuous spatial exploration.
Rhythmic sampling of the visual environment, governed by prefrontal rhythms, optimizes information processing.
Attentional exploration is flexible and dynamically shaped by task contingencies, supporting exploration-exploitation strategies.