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Endogenous versus exogenous engagement of sustained attention: An fMRI study
Authors:
O'Connor, C., Robertson, I.H., MANLY, T., Hevenor, S.J., Levine, B
Reference:
Clinical Neuropsychologist, 17, 117
Year of publication:
2003
CBU number:
6108
Abstract:
We studied the functional neuroanatomy of sustained attention in healthy adults using the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) and fMRI. Alerting tones were administered in a counterbalanced fashion to examine the effects of exogenous engagement of the sustained attention system. The SART engaged a right-lateralized frontoparietal-thalmic system. Alerting tomes reduced this activation, indicating a reduction ion the reliance of top-down endogenous control of this system. Our findings suggest a neural substrate for the positive effects of exogenous stimulation on patients' sustained attention performance.
