Question

Can anybody help me understand what the neurological base is for attention? Thanks!

Answer 1

attention?when brain sees or percieves something is of importance in surrounding it nulls out other sensations and pays full attention to the sensory modality that is important like we dont always feel ourselves sitting on a chair or where our legs are when doing something?

Answer 2

Dear Shawn, thanks for your reply! So this much I understand, I don't constantly feel the chair I'm sitting on. However I can if I want to. If I direct my attention to where my body makes contact with the chair, I can feel that. Like exercises people do with mindfulness and such. My curiosity is with the neural base for attention. What parts of the brain play a part in attention? Is there a difference in neurological systems underlying externally triggered attention and internally triggered attention? I hope you, or someone in the community can help me understand this (or show me articles/books/research)?

Answer 3

Attention is directed or focussed consciousness. Consciousness is a subjective sensation produced by the simultaneous activation of discrete neurophysiological systems. These are the alerting, awareness, affect, arousal, and attention systems. The process begins with the subcortical scanning of sensory stimuli for affect and significance via pleasure, pain and tension systems. The perceptions then pass to the Thalamus for further scanning and concentration into one sensory modality by Thalamic-Prefrontal-Thalamic reflex inhibition. The unimodal, significant perceptions then activate engrams in the Posterior Inferior Temporal Cortex, the Posterior Inferior Parietal Cortex, and the Posterior and Anterior Association Cortex. These areas project to the Prefrontal Association Cortex (PAC). The PAC inactivates sensory scanning systems causing fixation. The PAC also sends signals to the Hippocampus, which are gated by Septal and Hippocampal generated theta activity in the Hippocampus. This transiently interrupts the blanket inhibition of orientation, alertness, awareness, and arousal produced by the theta activity via the Hypothalamus. As a result of the above mechanisms, only one sensory stimulus activates the orientation, alerting, awareness, arousal, and cognitive systems and hence focused attention occurs.

Answer 4

Oh wow! This is exactly the answer I was searching for! Sean123 you are awesome!