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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,...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 1, 2025

$MRI-guided Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy for Patients with Medically-refractory Essential Tremor$

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Published on: December 13, 2017

Misdirected attentional focus in functional tremor.

Anne-Catherine M L Huys¹, Patrick Haggard², Kailash P Bhatia¹

¹Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, WC1N 3BG, UK.

Brain : a Journal of Neurology

|June 19, 2021

Summary

In functional neurological disorder, attention to visual feedback worsens movement. Distraction, however, improves motor performance in functional tremor patients, suggesting altered attentional focus contributes to the condition.

Keywords:

attention functional movement disorder functional neurological disorder treatment visual feedback

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

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Published on: March 18, 2019

Area of Science:

Neurology
Movement Disorders
Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

Functional neurological disorder (FND) symptoms often correlate with attention levels.
Attentional phenomena are implicated in FND, but their specific role in functional tremor remains unclear.
Understanding attentional focus in functional tremor is crucial for developing effective interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if attentional focus is misdirected in functional tremor.
To determine if this misdirection is detrimental or compensatory.
To compare attentional strategies in functional tremor, organic tremor, and healthy controls.

Main Methods:

Compared attentional focus during reaching movements in 17-28 participants with functional tremor, organic tremor, and healthy controls.
Assessed motor performance under varying attentional conditions (visual feedback, no feedback, speed, accuracy).
Measured trajectory length and movement duration as indicators of motor performance.

Main Results:

Functional tremor patients disproportionately focused on visual feedback, unlike controls.
Motor performance deteriorated across all groups with attention to visual feedback, accuracy, or slow movements.
Motor performance improved in functional tremor patients when movement was unimportant or performed quickly, and in all groups without visual feedback.

Conclusions:

Altered attentional allocation, specifically excessive focus on visual feedback, is characteristic of functional tremor.
This altered focus may contribute to tremor by interfering with automatic movement processes.
Distraction can improve motor performance in functional tremor, highlighting a potential therapeutic avenue.