Regulating access to consciousness: cortical mechanisms of attention
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1
University of Illinois, United States
Humans are limited in the number of representations that can be activated and made accessible to consciousness at one time. Attention can be defined as the collection of processes that regulate this access. Here we present evidence from event-related brain potentials (ERPs), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and the event-related optical signal (EROS) about some of the cortical mechanisms that underlie attentional processes and regulate the access of information to consciousness. Specifically, Diane Beck and Paige Scalf will present fMRI and ERP evidence related to the “competition” hypothesis, in which different object compete for representation in specific receptive fields. Paul Corballis will review recent work from his laboratory using event-related potentials (ERPs) to explore the neural correlates of object selection, competition for representation, distractor suppression, and visual short-term memory. David Bressler and Michael Silver will focus on fMRI data indicating top-down regulation from parietal cortex of attentional processes in early visual areas. Gabriele Gratton and colleagues will present EEG and optical data showing that flow of information through early cortical areas is regulated by rapid oscillations in cortical excitability, which are also under top-down control. Together, these data show how a combination of brain imaging methods can be used to investigate how attentional processes may regulate the flow of information through the cortex and access to consciousness.
Keywords:
Attention,
EEG,
fMRI
Conference:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011.
Presentation Type:
Introduction
Topic:
Symposium 23: Regulating access to consciousness: Cortical mechanisms of attention
Citation:
Gratton
G and
Beck
D
(2011). Regulating access to consciousness: cortical mechanisms of attention.
Conference Abstract:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00595
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Received:
14 Nov 2011;
Published Online:
28 Nov 2011.
*
Correspondence:
Prof. Gabriele Gratton, University of Illinois, Illinois, United States, grattong@illinois.edu