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Role of human prefrontal cortex in attention control
R T Knight1, M F Grabowecky, D Scabini
1Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis 95616, USA.
Advances in Neurology
|January 1, 1995
Summary
Damage to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex impairs novelty detection and temporal sequencing. This leads to stimulus binding, reduced confidence, and difficulty generating alternate realities.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is critical for executive functions.
- Dysfunction in the dlPFC leads to stimulus-bound behavior and reduced environmental interaction confidence.
Purpose of the Study:
- To elucidate the cascade of deficits resulting from dlPFC damage.
- To explore the role of the dlPFC in generating and evaluating internal action models.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature and theoretical proposals regarding dlPFC function.
- Analysis of proposed deficits including impaired inhibitory control, temporal coding, and novelty detection.
Main Results:
- Damage to the dlPFC results in stimulus binding and impaired confidence in environmental interaction.
- Deficits in novelty detection and temporal coding create a 'noisy' internal environment, hindering awareness.
- Impaired reality monitoring and difficulty generating counterfactual representations are consequences of dlPFC damage.
Conclusions:
- The dlPFC is crucial for detecting environmental changes and discriminating internal/external models.
- Impaired inhibitory control and temporal sequencing contribute to incoherent representations of reality.
- dlPFC function is essential for maintaining awareness, confidence, and the ability to model alternative scenarios.