The cognitive neuroscience of sustained attention: where top-down meets bottom-up

Sarter, Martin; Givens, Bennet; Bruno, John P.

doi:10.1016/s0165-0173(01)00044-3

Cited by 1,000 publications

(806 citation statements)

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“…In contrast, the recruitment of prefrontal cholinergic inputs in task-performing animals is thought to be mediated via direct prefrontal projections to the basal forebrain as well as via multi-synaptic circuits involving the nucleus accumbens and perhaps also the amygdala (Holland et al, 2000;Lee et al, 2006;Neigh-McCandless et al, 2002;Sarter et al, 2001Sarter et al, , 2005aZaborszky, 1997Zaborszky, , 2002Zahm, 2000). Together with evidence demonstrating the disruption of the prefrontal modulation of accumbens neurons following repeated psychostimulant exposure (Goto and Grace, 2005), the present findings suggest that repeated AMPH-exposure disrupts such telencephalic innervation of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons and thus, prefrontal ACh release.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Toward a Neuro-Cognitive Animal Model of the Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia: Disruption of Cortical Cholinergic Neurotransmission Following Repeated Amphetamine Exposure in Attentional Task-Performing, but Not Non-Performing, Rats

Kozak

Martı́nez

Young

et al. 2007

Neuropsychopharmacol

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Impairments in attentional functions and capacities represent core aspects of the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia. Attentional performance has been demonstrated to depend on the integrity and activity of cortical cholinergic inputs. The neurobiological, behavioral, and cognitive effects of repeated exposure to psychostimulants model important aspects of schizophrenia. In the present experiment, prefrontal acetylcholine (ACh) release was measured in attentional task-performing and non-performing rats pretreated with an escalating dosing regimen of amphetamine (AMPH) and following challenges with AMPH. In non-performing rats, pretreatment with AMPH did not affect the increases in ACh release produced by AMPH-challenges. In contrast, attentional task performanceassociated increases in ACh release were attenuated in AMPH-pretreated and AMPH-challenged rats. This effect of repeated AMPH exposure on ACh release was already present before task-onset, suggesting that the loss of cognitive control that characterized these animals' performance was a result of cholinergic dysregulation. The findings indicate that the demonstration of repeated AMPH-induced dysregulation of the prefrontal cholinergic input system depends on interactions between the effects of repeated AMPH exposure and cognitive performance-associated recruitment of this neuronal system. Repeated AMPH-induced disruption of prefrontal cholinergic activity and attentional performance represents a useful model to investigate the cholinergic mechanisms contributing to the cognitive impairments of schizophrenia.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Substantial evidence supports a crucial role of the cortical cholinergic input system in the mediation of attentional functions and capacities (Everitt and Robbins, 1997;Sarter et al, 2001Sarter et al, , 2005a. Removal of cortical cholinergic inputs produces persistent impairments in attentional performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Toward a Neuro-Cognitive Animal Model of the Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia: Disruption of Cortical Cholinergic Neurotransmission Following Repeated Amphetamine Exposure in Attentional Task-Performing, but Not Non-Performing, Rats

Kozak

Martı́nez

Young

et al. 2007

Neuropsychopharmacol

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“…In both clinical and nonclinical populations, traditional stimulus‐evoked analyses do not typically identify the amygdala as a region involved in sustained attention (Esterman, Noonan, Rosenberg, & DeGutis, 2013; Langner & Eickoff, 2013; Sarter, Givens, & Bruno, 2001; see Fleck et al., 2012 for an exception). However, functional connectivity analyses provide a complementary analytic approach to activation analyses, which focus on brain activation patterns to rare target or error events in sustained attention tasks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpersonal early‐life trauma alters amygdala connectivity and sustained attention performance

et al. 2017

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IntroductionInterpersonal early life trauma (I‐ELT) is associated with a myriad of functional impairments in adulthood, increased risk of drug addiction, and neuropsychiatric disorders. While deficits in emotional regulation and amygdala functioning are well characterized, deficits in general cognitive functioning have also been documented. However, the neural underpinnings of cognitive dysfunction in adults with a history of I‐ELT and the potential relationship between amygdala‐based functional connectivity and behavioral performance are currently poorly understood. This study examined how I‐ELT affects the cognitive and neural mechanisms supporting sustained attention.MethodsA total of 66 Veterans (18 with and 48 without a history of I‐ELT) completed a nonemotional sustained attention task during functional MRI.ResultsThe individuals with I‐ELT showed significant impairments in sustained attention (i.e., higher error rates, greater response variability). This cohort exhibited increased amygdala functional connectivity with the prefrontal cortex and decreased functional connectivity with the parahippocampal gyrus when compared to those without I‐ELT. These connections were significantly correlated with individual differences in sustained attention performance. Notably, classification analyses revealed that the pattern of amygdala connectivity across the whole brain was able to classify I‐ELT status with 70% accuracy.ConclusionThese results provide evidence of a lasting negative impact for those with a history of I‐ELT on sustained attention ability. They also highlight a critical role for amygdala functioning in cognitive control and sustained attention for those with a history of I‐ELT, which may underlie the observed attention deficits in clinical assessments and cognitive tests involving both emotional and nonemotional stimuli.

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“…The present study attempts to better understand the difficulty Rett children have with this aspect of attention and identify factors influencing it. Sustained attention, which is thought to involve top-down connectivity extending from the anterior attention system, particularly prefrontal and parietal regions in the right hemisphere, right down into V1 (Grahn & Manly, 2012;Sarter, Givens, & Bruno, 2001;Silver, Ress, & Heeger, 2007), has repeatedly been found to be compromised across a wide range of neurological and psychiatric disorders, e.g., ADHD, autism, bipolar disorder and Fragile X (Cornish, Scerif, & Karmiloff-Smith, 2007;Cornish, Turk, & Levitas, 2007;Fortenbaugh et al, 2015;O'Connell, Bellgrove, Dockree, & Robertson, 2004) While sustained attention is often tested in adults with the continuous performance test, the verbal instructions and motoric requirements preclude using this task in children with RTT.…”

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confidence: 99%

Sustained attention in the face of distractors: A study of children with Rett syndrome.

Rose¹,

Wass²,

Jankowski³

et al. 2017

Neuropsychology

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Objective: The object of the present study is to advance our understanding of the cognitive profile of Rett syndrome (RTT), an X-linked neurodevelopmental disorder caused by mutations in the MECP2 gene. We focus on sustained attention, which plays a critical role in driving cognitive growth, and use an innovative, gaze-based task that minimizes demands on the limited verbal and motor abilities associated with RTT. Method: The task required the ability to sustain attention on a visual target (a butterfly) while inhibiting a prepotent response to look to moving distractors (trees and clouds) presented in the peripheral visual field. The sample included children with RTT (N = 32) and their typically developing (TD) counterparts (N = 32), aged 2–12 years. Results: Our findings revealed that children with RTT had more difficulty sustaining attention (with the TD group averaging 60% looking at the butterfly vs. only 25% for the RTT group). Furthermore, RTT was associated with difficulties in 3 fundamental factors influencing sustained attention: engagement, distractibility, and reengagement. The RTT group was slower to engage, more distractible, and slower to reengage. Conclusion: Our findings identify a fundamental disruption to sustained attention in RTT, determine factors related to this impairment, and pinpoint cognitive areas that could serve as markers for evaluating the effectiveness of pharmacological and behavioral interventions.

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The cognitive neuroscience of sustained attention: where top-down meets bottom-up

Cited by 1,000 publications

References 95 publications

Toward a Neuro-Cognitive Animal Model of the Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia: Disruption of Cortical Cholinergic Neurotransmission Following Repeated Amphetamine Exposure in Attentional Task-Performing, but Not Non-Performing, Rats

Toward a Neuro-Cognitive Animal Model of the Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia: Disruption of Cortical Cholinergic Neurotransmission Following Repeated Amphetamine Exposure in Attentional Task-Performing, but Not Non-Performing, Rats

Interpersonal early‐life trauma alters amygdala connectivity and sustained attention performance

Sustained attention in the face of distractors: A study of children with Rett syndrome.

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