scholarly journals Prenatal Protein Malnutrition in the Rat Reduces Extracellular Norepinephrine in the Ventral Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Impairs Performance in Attentional Set Shifting

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (S1) ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Mokler ◽  
L. Fischer ◽  
D. Rosene ◽  
A Amaral ◽  
R. Rushmore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Protein Malnutrition ◽  
Set Shifting ◽  
Attentional Set ◽  
Ventral Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Attentional Set Shifting

scholarly journals The claustrum-medial prefrontal cortex network controls attentional set-shifting

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leon Fodoulian ◽  
Olivier Gschwend ◽  
Chieko Huber ◽  
Sophie Mutel ◽  
Rodrigo F. Salazar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Pyramidal Cells ◽  
Excitatory Input ◽  
Set Shifting ◽  
Attentional Set ◽  
Attentional Set Shifting ◽  
Reciprocal Connections

SUMMARYIn various mental disorders, dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex contributes to cognitive deficits. Here we studied how the claustrum (CLA), a nucleus sharing reciprocal connections with the cortex, may participate in these cognitive impairments. We show that specific ensembles of CLA and of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) neurons are activated during a task requiring cognitive control such as attentional set-shifting, i.e. the ability to shift attention towards newly relevant stimulus-reward associations while disengaging from irrelevant ones. CLA neurons exert a direct excitatory input on mPFC pyramidal cells, and chemogenetic inhibition of CLA neurons suppresses the formation of specific mPFC assemblies during attentional set-shifting. Furthermore, impairing the recruitment of specific CLA assemblies through opto/chemogenetic manipulations prevents attentional set-shifting. In conclusion, we propose that the CLA controls the reorganization of mPFC ensembles to enable attentional set-shifting, emphasizing a potential role of the CLA-mPFC network in attentional dysfunctions.

scholarly journals Attentional set to safety recruits the ventral medial prefrontal cortex

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuxia Yao ◽  
Song Qi ◽  
Keith M. Kendrick ◽  
Dean Mobbs
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Attentional Set ◽  
Ventral Medial Prefrontal Cortex

Dissociating executive functions of the prefrontal cortex

1996 ◽  
Vol 351 (1346) ◽  
pp. 1463-1471 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Set Shifting ◽  
Attentional Set ◽  
Attentional Set Shifting ◽  
Psychometric Studies

An analysis is provided of three distinct paradigms that have been used to study executive functions of the prefrontal cortex involving planning, self-ordered memory or attentional set-shifting. Psychological and anatomical dissociations are sought from the perspective of studies of patients with frontal lobe lesions, functional neuroimaging, psychometric studies in normal volunteers and experimental studies in nonhuman primates. Particular attention is paid to attempts to dissociate mnemonic from other executive capacities. Thus, patients with frontal damage are shown to have deficits in their (1) use of strategies to improve performance in a spatial working memory task and (2) capacity to make an extra-dimensional shift due to a high-order failure of inhibition in an attentional set-shifting paradigm. These results are discussed in terms of anatomical and neuropharmacological dissociations of different aspects of executive function within the prefrontal cortex shown in monkeys.

scholarly journals Attentional set to safety recruits the medial prefrontal cortex

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuxia Yao ◽  
Song Qi ◽  
Keith M. Kendrick ◽  
Dean Mobbs
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Early Detection ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Threat Assessment ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Core Region ◽  
Attentional Set ◽  
Ventral Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Cue Detection

AbstractDuring threat assessment, the early detection of danger is highly adaptive, yet the fast orientation towards safety is also key to survival. The present study aimed to explore how the human brain searches for safety by manipulating subjects’ attentional set to cues associated with shock probability. Subjects were asked to judge random dots motion (RDM) direction and could be shocked for incorrect responses (RDM task) while keeping alert in detecting the shock probability cues (cue detection task). In contrast to the safe condition, where subjects searched for cues associated with no shock probability, incorrect responses to ‘dangerous+’ (D+) cues would increase the shock probability and correct responses to ‘dangerous-’ (D-) cues would decrease shock probability. In the RDM task, results showed that relative to the D+, the safe attentional set resulted in stronger activation in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), a core region involved in flexible threat assessment and safety signalling. The vmPFC was also recruited by the D-compared to the D + attentional set. In the cue detection task, shorter response times and greater accuracy were observed for D+ compared to D‐ and safe cues. Correspondingly, at the neural level D+ cues induced increased activity in the frontoparietal attention network including the inferior parietal lobule and intraparietal sulcus. Overall, our findings demonstrate that attentional set for searching safety recruits the vmPFC, while detection of threat elicits activity in the frontoparietal attention network, suggesting a new role for these regions in human defensive survival circuitry.Significance StatementWhile early detection of threat is highly adaptive, the fast orientation towards safety is also key to survival. However, little is known about neural mechanisms underlying attentional set to safety. Using a novel dots motion paradigm combined with fMRI, we explored how human brain prepares for safety searching by manipulating subjects’ attentional set to cues associated with shock probability. Relative to the dangerous attentional set associated with increasing shock probability, the safe attentional set resulted in stronger activity in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex, a core region involved in flexible threat assessment and safety signalling, suggesting a new role for this region in human defensive survival system in encoding stimuli with survival significance.

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