The time course of activity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex during top-down attentional control

A network of brain regions has been implicated in top-down attentional control, including left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LDLPFC) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). The present experiment evaluated predictions of the cascade-of-control model (Banich, 2009), which predicts that during...

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Published inNeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Vol. 50; no. 3; pp. 1292 - 1302
Main Authors Silton, Rebecca Levin, Heller, Wendy, Towers, David N., Engels, Anna S., Spielberg, Jeffrey M., Edgar, J. Christopher, Sass, Sarah M., Stewart, Jennifer L., Sutton, Bradley P., Banich, Marie T., Miller, Gregory A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Elsevier Inc 15.04.2010
Elsevier Limited
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
Attention - physiology
Electroencephalography
Evoked Potentials
Executive Function - physiology
Female
Gyrus Cinguli - physiology
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Methods
Models, Neurological
Neuropsychological Tests
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Prefrontal Cortex - physiology
Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
Studies
Time Factors
Visual task performance
Young Adult
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Summary:A network of brain regions has been implicated in top-down attentional control, including left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LDLPFC) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). The present experiment evaluated predictions of the cascade-of-control model (Banich, 2009), which predicts that during attentionally-demanding tasks, LDLPFC imposes a top-down attentional set which precedes late-stage selection performed by dACC. Furthermore, the cascade-of-control model argues that dACC must increase its activity to compensate when top-down control by LDLPFC is poor. The present study tested these hypotheses using fMRI and dense-array ERP data collected from the same 80 participants in separate sessions. fMRI results guided ERP source modeling to characterize the time course of activity in LDLPFC and dACC. As predicted, dACC activity subsequent to LDLPFC activity distinguished congruent and incongruent conditions on the Stroop task. Furthermore, when LDLPFC activity was low, the level of dACC activity was related to performance outcome. These results demonstrate that dACC responds to attentional demand in a flexible manner that is dependent on the level of LDLPFC activity earlier in a trial. Overall, results were consistent with the temporal course of regional brain function proposed by the cascade-of-control model.
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Rebecca Levin Silton, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Wendy Heller, Department of Psychology and Beckman Institute Biomedical Imaging Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; David N. Towers, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Anna S. Engels, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Jeffrey M. Spielberg, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; J. Christopher Edgar, Department of Psychology and Beckman Institute Biomedical Imaging Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Sarah M. Sass, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Jennifer L. Stewart, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Bradley P. Sutton, Department of Psychology and Beckman Institute Biomedical Imaging Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Marie T. Banich, Institute of Cognitive Science, and Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado; Gregory A. Miller, Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry and Beckman Institute Biomedical Imaging Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Rebecca Levin Silton is now at Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Seattle Children’s Hospital; Anna S. Engels is now at Department of Psychology and Social, Life, and Engineering Sciences Imaging Center, Pennsylvania State University; J. Christopher Edgar is now at Department of Radiology, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Jennifer L. Stewart is now at Department of Psychology, University of Arizona
ISSN:1053-8119
1095-9572
DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.12.061