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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 8, 2025

Touchscreen Sustained Attention Task SAT for Rats

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Published on: September 15, 2017

Attentional processing in the rat dorsal posterior parietal cortex.

Victoria R Heimer-McGinn¹, Taylor B Wise², Emma R Halter³

¹Department of Psychology and Program in Neuroscience, Providence College, United States; Department of Psychology, Roger Williams University, United States.

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

|November 1, 2024

Summary

Rodent dorsal posterior parietal cortex (dPPC) lesions impair sustained attention and processing speed. Compensatory mechanisms aid recovery, but at a cost to response speed, suggesting dPPC

Keywords:

Attention NMDA lesion Operant chamber Posterior parietal cortex

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience
Animal Models

Background:

The human posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is crucial for sustained attention, with dorsal regions supporting top-down processing and ventral regions bottom-up.
The role of the rodent PPC in sustained attention and potential functional dissociation between its subregions remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the contribution of the dorsal PPC (dPPC) in sustained attention in a rodent model.
To explore potential functional dissociation between top-down and bottom-up attentional processing within the rodent PPC.

Main Methods:

Utilized the five-choice serial reaction time task (5CSRTT) in rats.
Compared behavioral performance between rats with neurotoxic dPPC lesions and sham-operated controls.

Main Results:

dPPC-lesioned rats initially showed impaired accuracy and slower processing speed.
Elevated omissions post-recovery suggested sustained attention deficits, independent of motivation or mobility changes.
Lesioned rats exhibited globally increased response latency, indicating reduced processing speed without affecting impulsivity or compulsivity.

Conclusions:

The rodent dPPC is involved in regulating sustained attention, particularly supporting goal-driven (top-down) attention.
Evidence suggests a functional dissociation within the rodent PPC for top-down versus bottom-up attentional processing.
Compensatory mechanisms can support sustained attention after dPPC damage, but with a deficit in processing speed.