Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (91)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Nagahama, Y.
Right arrow Articles by Shibasaki, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Nagahama, Y.
Right arrow Articles by Shibasaki, H.
Social Bookmarking
 Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Cerebral Cortex, Vol. 11, No. 1, 85-92, January 2001
© 2001 Oxford University Press

Dissociable Mechanisms of Attentional Control within the Human Prefrontal Cortex

Yasuhiro Nagahama1, Tomohisa Okada2, Yukinori Katsumi3, Takuya Hayashi3, Hiroshi Yamauchi3, Chisako Oyanagi3, Junji Konishi2, Hidenao Fukuyama1 and Hiroshi Shibasaki1,3

1 Department of Brain Pathophysiology, , 2 Department of Nuclear Medicine and , 3 Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, 54 Shogoin Kawahara-cho, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan

Neuropsychological tests that require shifting an attentional set, such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, are sensitive to frontal lobe damage. Although little information is available for humans, an animal experiment suggested that different regions of the prefrontal cortex may contribute to set shifting behavior at different levels of processing. Behavioral studies also suggest that set shifting trials are more time consuming than non-set shifting trials (i.e. switch cost) and that this may be underpinned by differences at the neural level. We determined whether there were differential neural responses associated with two different levels of shifting behavior, that of reversal of stimulus–response associations within a perceptual dimension or that of shifting an attentional set between different perceptual dimensions. Neural activity in the antero-dorsal prefrontal cortex increased only in attentional set shifting, in which switch costs were significant. Activity in the postero-ventral prefrontal cortex increased not only in set shifting but also in reversing stimulus–response associations, in which switch costs were absent. We conclude that these distinct regions in the human prefrontal cortex provide different levels of attention control in response selection. Thus, the antero-dorsal prefrontal cortex may be critical for higher order control of attention, i.e. attentional set shifting, whereas the postero-ventral area may be related to a lower level of shift, i.e. reorganizing stimulus–response associations.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
BrainHome page
J. B. Rowe, L. Hughes, B. C. P. Ghosh, D. Eckstein, C. H. Williams-Gray, S. Fallon, R. A. Barker, and A. M. Owen
Parkinson's disease and dopaminergic therapy--differential effects on movement, reward and cognition
Brain, August 1, 2008; 131(8): 2094 - 2105.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Physiol. Rev.Home page
J. Tanji and E. Hoshi
Role of the Lateral Prefrontal Cortex in Executive Behavioral Control
Physiol Rev, January 1, 2008; 88(1): 37 - 57.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurosci.Home page
H.-C. Leung and W. Cai
Common and Differential Ventrolateral Prefrontal Activity during Inhibition of Hand and Eye Movements
J. Neurosci., September 12, 2007; 27(37): 9893 - 9900.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Cereb CortexHome page
T. Robbins and A. Roberts
Differential Regulation of Fronto-Executive Function by the Monoamines and Acetylcholine
Cereb Cortex, September 1, 2007; 17(suppl_1): i151 - i160.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Cereb CortexHome page
A. Hampshire and A. M. Owen
Fractionating Attentional Control Using Event-Related fMRI
Cereb Cortex, December 1, 2006; 16(12): 1679 - 1689.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Cereb CortexHome page
J. K. Roth, J. T. Serences, and S. M. Courtney
Neural System for Controlling the Contents of Object Working Memory in Humans
Cereb Cortex, November 1, 2006; 16(11): 1595 - 1603.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurosci.Home page
E. Rounis, K. E. Stephan, L. Lee, H. R. Siebner, A. Pesenti, K. J. Friston, J. C. Rothwell, and R. S. J. Frackowiak
Acute changes in frontoparietal activity after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in a cued reaction time task.
J. Neurosci., September 20, 2006; 26(38): 9629 - 9638.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Am. J. PsychiatryHome page
L. Tamm, V. Menon, and A. L. Reiss
Parietal Attentional System Aberrations During Target Detection in Adolescents With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Event-Related fMRI Evidence
Am J Psychiatry, June 1, 2006; 163(6): 1033 - 1043.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurosci.Home page
E. Hurliman, J. C. Nagode, and J. V. Pardo
Double Dissociation of Exteroceptive and Interoceptive Feedback Systems in the Orbital and Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex of Humans
J. Neurosci., May 4, 2005; 25(18): 4641 - 4648.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. PsychiatryHome page
Y Nagahama, T Okina, N Suzuki, H Nabatame, and M Matsuda
The cerebral correlates of different types of perseveration in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, February 1, 2005; 76(2): 169 - 175.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurosci.Home page
M. Brass and D. Y. von Cramon
Selection for Cognitive Control: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study on the Selection of Task-Relevant Information
J. Neurosci., October 6, 2004; 24(40): 8847 - 8852.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
BrainHome page
A. R. Aron, S. Monsell, B. J. Sahakian, and T. W. Robbins
A componential analysis of task-switching deficits associated with lesions of left and right frontal cortex
Brain, July 1, 2004; 127(7): 1561 - 1573.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurosci.Home page
E. M. Tunbridge, D. M. Bannerman, T. Sharp, and P. J. Harrison
Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Inhibition Improves Set-Shifting Performance and Elevates Stimulated Dopamine Release in the Rat Prefrontal Cortex
J. Neurosci., June 9, 2004; 24(23): 5331 - 5335.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurosci.Home page
R. Cools, L. Clark, and T. W. Robbins
Differential Responses in Human Striatum and Prefrontal Cortex to Changes in Object and Rule Relevance
J. Neurosci., February 4, 2004; 24(5): 1129 - 1135.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
ScienceHome page
E. Koechlin, C. Ody, and F. Kouneiher
The Architecture of Cognitive Control in the Human Prefrontal Cortex
Science, November 14, 2003; 302(5648): 1181 - 1185.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Behav Cogn Neurosci RevHome page
J. N. Wood
Social Cognition and the Prefrontal Cortex
Behav Cogn Neurosci Rev, June 1, 2003; 2(2): 97 - 114.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Home page
Cereb CortexHome page
M. Brass and D. Y. von Cramon
The Role of the Frontal Cortex in Task Preparation
Cereb Cortex, September 1, 2002; 12(9): 908 - 914.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurosci.Home page
R. Cools, L. Clark, A. M. Owen, and T. W. Robbins
Defining the Neural Mechanisms of Probabilistic Reversal Learning Using Event-Related Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
J. Neurosci., June 1, 2002; 22(11): 4563 - 4567.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
BrainHome page
J. M. Gurd, K. Amunts, P. H. Weiss, O. Zafiris, K. Zilles, J. C. Marshall, and G. R. Fink
Posterior parietal cortex is implicated in continuous switching between verbal fluency tasks: an fMRI study with clinical implications
Brain, May 1, 2002; 125(5): 1024 - 1038.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Cereb CortexHome page
R. Cools, R. A. Barker, B. J. Sahakian, and T. W. Robbins
Enhanced or Impaired Cognitive Function in Parkinson's Disease as a Function of Dopaminergic Medication and Task Demands
Cereb Cortex, December 1, 2001; 11(12): 1136 - 1143.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurosci.Home page
O. Monchi, M. Petrides, V. Petre, K. Worsley, and A. Dagher
Wisconsin Card Sorting Revisited: Distinct Neural Circuits Participating in Different Stages of the Task Identified by Event-Related Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
J. Neurosci., October 1, 2001; 21(19): 7733 - 7741.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]



Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.