Two frontal brain regions, Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) appear to be particularly involved in attentional control and self-monitoring. There is evidence that while these regions work in tandem to regulate behavioral, DLPFC is specifically responsible for allocating attention to meet task demands, and ACC is specifically responsible for monitoring the stimulus processing and responding for performance difficulties and signaling the DLPFC and general arousal systems when reallocation of attention is needed. Important recent studies have revealed the complexities of the roles of these areas, and the need to understand their interactions. The four proposed experiments will use fMRI, EEG and behavior measures to address the following unresolved issues: 1) Whether ACC is involved in switching attention states, and whether separate subregions of the ACC are involved in the allocation of attention and in the detection of processing conflict, 2) How preparatory attention and performance monitoring functions interact, 3) What regions are responsible for reallocating attention to resole processing conflict, and 4) Whether the ACC or DLPFC are in error evaluation, and if so, whether these operations involve different subregions than preparatory attention and monitoring operations. This research will add to our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie dynamic behavioral control, and will inform the study of neurological disorders in which behavioral control is impaired, such as Schizophrenia, Alzheimer's Disease, Attention Deficit Disorder, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F32)
Project #
5F32MH064295-02
Application #
6626119
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-F02B (20))
Program Officer
Desmond, Nancy L
Project Start
2002-12-13
Project End
2005-08-31
Budget Start
2003-09-01
Budget End
2004-08-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$48,148
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California San Francisco
Department
Radiation-Diagnostic/Oncology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
094878337
City
San Francisco
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
94143
Vinogradov, Sophia; Luks, Tracy L; Schulman, Brian J et al. (2008) Deficit in a neural correlate of reality monitoring in schizophrenia patients. Cereb Cortex 18:2532-9
Luks, Tracy L; Sun, Felice T; Dale, Corby L et al. (2008) Transient and sustained brain activity during anticipatory visuospatial attention. Neuroreport 19:155-9
Luks, Tracy L; Simpson, Gregory V; Dale, Corby L et al. (2007) Preparatory allocation of attention and adjustments in conflict processing. Neuroimage 35:949-58
Luks, Tracy L; Simpson, Gregory V (2004) Preparatory deployment of attention to motion activates higher-order motion-processing brain regions. Neuroimage 22:1515-22