Abstract
Abstract: Behavioral and PET/fMRI-data are presented to delineate the functional networks subserving alertness, sustained attention, and vigilance as different aspects of attention intensity. The data suggest that a mostly right-hemisphere frontal, parietal, thalamic, and brainstem network plays an important role in the regulation of attention intensity, irrespective of stimulus modality. Under conditions of phasic alertness there is less right frontal activation reflecting a diminished need for top-down regulation with phasic extrinsic stimulation. Furthermore, a high overlap between the functional networks for alerting and spatial orienting of attention is demonstrated. These findings support the hypothesis of a co-activation of the posterior attention system involved in spatial orienting by the anterior alerting network. Possible implications of these findings for the therapy of neglect are proposed.
Zusammenfassung: Die an der kognitiven Kontrolle der Aufmerksamkeitsintensität (Alertness, Daueraufmerksamkeit, Vigilanz) beteiligten funktionellen Netzwerke werden mithilfe von Verhaltens- und PET/fMRI-Daten vorgestellt. Die Daten legen nahe, dass - unabhängig von der Sinnesmodalität - die Aufmerksamkeitsintensität von einem hauptsächlich rechtshemisphärischen frontalen, parietalen, thalamischen und Hirnstamm-Netzwerk reguliert wird. Unter Bedingungen der phasischen Alertness fällt die rechts frontale Aktivität geringer aus, was den verminderten Bedarf an kognitiver Kontrolle für extrinsisch unterstützte phasische Alertnessveränderungen widerspiegelt. Es zeigt sich eine deutliche Überlappung der Netzwerke zur Alertness und zur räumlichen Ausrichtung der Aufmerksamkeit. Dies unterstützt die Hypothese einer Koaktivierung des posterioren Aufmerksamkeitssystems zur Kontrolle der spatialen Aufmerksamkeit durch das anteriore Alertness-Netzwerk. Mögliche Auswirkungen dieser Befunde auf die Neglekttherapie werden diskutiert.
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