Capacity for Holding Sustained Attention Following Commissurotomy

Abstract

To assess the relative capacities of the two cerebral hemispheres to sustain prolonged mental concentration, the performance of commissurotomized patients and normal controls was tested on monotonous sorting and signal detection tasks. The two series of tasks all required the maintenance of focused attention but differed in the amount of motor activity involved. Results showed that attentional capacity was different for active than for passive tasks in the patient group. During the active sorting tasks, commissurotomy patients were able to sustain continuous attention for periods of up to an hour while in the passive signal detection tasks, a decline in general levels of arousal was evident within ten to twenty minutes. The maintenance of generalized attention with minimal proprioceptive and external stimulation was thus found to be markedly weakened following commissurotomy. Neither hemisphere was consistently inferior to the other in sustaining mental concentration. The unique ability of commissurotomy patients to efficiently carry out mutually conflicting volitional decisions while sorting with the hands simultaneously points up the role of the intact commissures in unifying attentional components of cognitive processing.

Low frequency fluctuations reveal integrated and segregated processing among the cerebral hemispheres

“…Chiarello and Maxfield (1996) considered the need for regulatory mechanisms between the hemispheres to coordinate “unified performance from a bilateral system capable of producing simultaneous, and potentially conflicting, outputs” (p. 82). Indeed, evidence for improved performance when the hemispheres perform independently has been reported in both split-brain patients (Ellenberg and Sperry, 1979; Holtzman and Gazzaniga, 1985) and in healthy volunteers (Banich and Belger, 1990; Dimond and Beaumont, 1971). …”

Low frequency fluctuations reveal integrated and segregated processing among the cerebral hemispheres

“…Chiarello and Maxfield (1996) considered the need for regulatory mechanisms between the hemispheres to coordinate “unified performance from a bilateral system capable of producing simultaneous, and potentially conflicting, outputs” (p. 82). Indeed, evidence for improved performance when the hemispheres perform independently has been reported in both split-brain patients (Ellenberg and Sperry, 1979; Holtzman and Gazzaniga, 1985) and in healthy volunteers (Banich and Belger, 1990; Dimond and Beaumont, 1971). …”

Executive functions in agenesis of the corpus callosum: Working memory and sustained attention in the BTBR inbred mouse strain

“…Moreover, several studies on human participants demonstrated an unclear pattern of the relationships between the corpus callosum and working memory and sustained attention. Studies on sustained attention suggested an atypical corpus callosum may result in sustained attention deficits, but the results are inconsistent (Ellenberg & Sperry, 1979; Semrud‐Clikeman et al., 1994). Other studies indicate conflicting findings on the impact of AgCC on working memory (Labadi & Beke, 2017; Paul et al., 2016; Siffredi et al., 2017).…”

Cerebral asymmetry and hypnosis: A signal-detection analysis of divided visual field stimulation.

“…Efficacy in sustaining attention could lead to a more strict criterion. Dimond (1976), in a study of callosectomy patients, proposed that the right hemisphere is superior to the left in sustained attention, a result that was, however, contested by Ellenberg and Sperry (1979).…”

Low frequency fluctuations reveal integrated and segregated processing among the cerebral hemispheres

“…Chiarello and Maxfield (1996) considered the need for regulatory mechanisms between the hemispheres to coordinate “unified performance from a bilateral system capable of producing simultaneous, and potentially conflicting, outputs” (p. 82). Indeed, evidence for improved performance when the hemispheres perform independently has been reported in both split-brain patients (Ellenberg and Sperry, 1979; Holtzman and Gazzaniga, 1985) and in healthy volunteers (Banich and Belger, 1990; Dimond and Beaumont, 1971). …”

Executive functions in agenesis of the corpus callosum: Working memory and sustained attention in the BTBR inbred mouse strain

“…Moreover, several studies on human participants demonstrated an unclear pattern of the relationships between the corpus callosum and working memory and sustained attention. Studies on sustained attention suggested an atypical corpus callosum may result in sustained attention deficits, but the results are inconsistent (Ellenberg & Sperry, 1979; Semrud‐Clikeman et al., 1994). Other studies indicate conflicting findings on the impact of AgCC on working memory (Labadi & Beke, 2017; Paul et al., 2016; Siffredi et al., 2017).…”

Cerebral asymmetry and hypnosis: A signal-detection analysis of divided visual field stimulation.

“…Efficacy in sustaining attention could lead to a more strict criterion. Dimond (1976), in a study of callosectomy patients, proposed that the right hemisphere is superior to the left in sustained attention, a result that was, however, contested by Ellenberg and Sperry (1979).…”

Low frequency fluctuations reveal integrated and segregated processing among the cerebral hemispheres

“…Chiarello and Maxfield (1996) considered the need for regulatory mechanisms between the hemispheres to coordinate “unified performance from a bilateral system capable of producing simultaneous, and potentially conflicting, outputs” (p. 82). Indeed, evidence for improved performance when the hemispheres perform independently has been reported in both split-brain patients (Ellenberg and Sperry, 1979; Holtzman and Gazzaniga, 1985) and in healthy volunteers (Banich and Belger, 1990; Dimond and Beaumont, 1971). …”

Executive functions in agenesis of the corpus callosum: Working memory and sustained attention in the BTBR inbred mouse strain

“…Moreover, several studies on human participants demonstrated an unclear pattern of the relationships between the corpus callosum and working memory and sustained attention. Studies on sustained attention suggested an atypical corpus callosum may result in sustained attention deficits, but the results are inconsistent (Ellenberg & Sperry, 1979; Semrud‐Clikeman et al., 1994). Other studies indicate conflicting findings on the impact of AgCC on working memory (Labadi & Beke, 2017; Paul et al., 2016; Siffredi et al., 2017).…”

Cerebral asymmetry and hypnosis: A signal-detection analysis of divided visual field stimulation.

“…Efficacy in sustaining attention could lead to a more strict criterion. Dimond (1976), in a study of callosectomy patients, proposed that the right hemisphere is superior to the left in sustained attention, a result that was, however, contested by Ellenberg and Sperry (1979).…”