Neuromodulation of Attention

Abstract

Attention is critical to high-level cognition and attention deficits are a hallmark of neurologic and neuropsychiatric disorders. Although years of research indicates that distinct neuromodulators influence attentional control, a mechanistic account that traverses levels of analysis (cells, circuits, behavior) is missing. However, such an account is critical to guide the development of next-generation pharmacotherapies aimed at forestalling or remediating the global burden associated with disorders of attention. Here, we summarize current neuroscientific understanding of how attention affects single neurons and networks of neurons. We then review key results that have informed our understanding of how neuromodulation shapes these neuron and network properties and thereby enables the appropriate allocation of attention to relevant external or internal events. Finally, we highlight areas where we believe hypotheses can be formulated and tackled experimentally in the near future, thereby critically increasing our mechanistic understanding of how attention is implemented at the cellular and network levels.

A neural microcircuit model for a scalable scale‐invariant representation of time

“…A previous study has shown that activation of the muscarinic receptors activates a calcium-sensitive, nonspecific cation current (Shalinsky, Magistretti, Ma, & Alonso, 2002) which induces persistent firing (Hasselmo & McGaughy, 2004). High levels of acetylcholine are also associated with attention, which is related to the change in cortical gain (summarized in Thiele & Bellgrove, 2018). We focused on changes in CAN current conductance because of this data on the effect of acetylcholine.…”

The system‐neurophysiological basis for how methylphenidate modulates perceptual–attentional conflicts during auditory processing

“…Various neurotransmitter systems are known to modulate attention (Thiele & Bellgrove, 2018). Here we focus on the catecholaminergic modulation of the interaction between perception and attention.…”

A roadmap to integrate astrocytes into Systems Neuroscience

“…In hippocampus, the functional consequences of this modality are long-lasting effects on synaptic connections (Adamsky et al, 2018;Navarrete et al, 2012), plausibly associated with memory formation. In cortex, we reason that astrocytic Ca 2+ rises, as reported by (Takata et al, 2011), participate in a well-accepted role of neuromodulation: Control of arousal and attention, which involves recruitment of large, spatially distributed neuronal populations (Thiele & Bellgrove, 2018). Importantly, the two modalities reveal the existence of threshold heterogeneity in Ca 2+ responses in astrocytes, which might be of computational importance.…”

“…Neuromodulation refers to the relatively rapid (in the range of seconds) functional reconfiguration of circuits throughout the brain by acetylcholine, dopamine, noradrenaline, and serotonin, which are released by subcortical and brainstem nuclei: The nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM), the striatum, the locus coeruleus, and the Raphe nucleus (Avery & Krichmar, 2017). Neuromodulation participates in working memory, attention, brain state, and plasticity (Meunier, Chameau, & Fossier, 2017;Sara, 2009;Thiele & Bellgrove, 2018).…”