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Review
. 2016 Dec;28(6):720-724.
doi: 10.1097/MOP.0000000000000413.

Developing brain networks of attention

Michael I Posner  1 , Mary K Rothbart, Pascale Voelker
Affiliations
Review

Developing brain networks of attention

Michael I Posner et al. Curr Opin Pediatr. 2016 Dec.

Abstract

Purpose of review: Attention is a primary cognitive function critical for perception, language, and memory. We provide an update on brain networks related to attention, their development, training, and pathologies.

Recent findings: An executive attention network, also called the cingulo-opercular network, allows voluntary control of behavior in accordance with goals. Individual differences among children in self-regulation have been measured by a higher order factor called effortful control, which is related to the executive network and to the size of the anterior cingulate cortex.

Summary: Brain networks of attention arise in infancy and are related to individual differences, including pathology during childhood. Methods of training attention may improve performance and ameliorate pathology.

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Conflict of interest statement

We had no conflict of interest related to this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. The Attention Network Test (ANT) is shown on the left of the figure
The test measures the efficiency of brain networks in children and adults by the speed of responding to whether a target stimulus points left or right. The bottom left column illustrates that the executive attention scores are calculated by the time to resolve conflict by subtracting the time to respond when all stimuli are in the same direction as the target from reaction time when incongruent stimuli are present. Alerting cues (top of column 1) indicate when the target will occur and orienting cues (middle of column 1) indicate where the target will occur. An alerting score is obtained by subtracting reaction times following a warning signal from those for unwarned trials. The orienting score is obtained from subtracting reaction times from trials indicating the target location from those without an orienting cue. The alerting, orienting and executive scores are related to the time course of brain activity by EEG (column 2), to the location of activation by fMRI (Column 3) and to chemical modulators (Column 4). Figure 1 is reprinted with permission from [1].
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References

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