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The Journal of Neuroscience, November 7, 2007, 27(45):12123-12131; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2745-07.2007

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Double Dissociation of Attentional Resources: Prefrontal Versus Cingulate Cortices

Chi-Wing Ng,¹ Maria I. Noblejas,² Joshua S. Rodefer,¹ Christina B. Smith,¹ and Amy Poremba¹

¹Department of Psychology, Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Division, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, and ²Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, 39118 Magdeburg, Germany

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Amy Poremba, Department of Psychology, Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Division, E11 Seashore Hall, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242. Email: amy-poremba{at}uiowa.edu

Efficient attention to our environment facilitates the decisions that need to be executed in daily life. Filtering critical from noncritical information may require the neural organization of multiple brain regions. Combining lesion techniques and the rodent version of the Wisconsin card sorting task in humans, we show at least two types of attentional processing systems reside in the cingulate and prefrontal cortices depending on task demands requiring shifts of attention within or between sets of meaningful cues, respectively. This neural organization for shifting attention either within or between perceptual dimensions is task dependent, and this type of organization provides evidence of attentional systems that transcend separate modality processing systems while subdividing executive control of attention. The results suggest that the anterior and posterior cingulate cortices are critical when shifting attention to closely related meaningful cues (i.e., within a perceptual dimension or attentional set) by suppressing interference of irrelevant background information, whereas the prefrontal cortex is critical when shifting attention between disparate sets of meaningful cues (i.e., between perceptual dimensions or attentional sets) (Dias et al., 1996a,b; Birrell and Brown, 2000). Based on the theories of Mackintosh (1965, 1975; Sutherland and Mackintosh, 1971), it is suggested that the cingulate cortex may be important for decreasing attention to irrelevant information. In general, attention deficit disorders affect both children and adults, and current medications may affect the prefrontal and associated parietal cortical systems more or less than the cingulate cortical system.

Key words: anterior cingulate cortex; posterior cingulate cortex; attention set-shifting; olfactory; visual; discrimination

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Received June 16, 2007; revised Aug. 9, 2007; accepted Sept. 5, 2007.

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Amy Poremba, Department of Psychology, Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Division, E11 Seashore Hall, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242. Email: amy-poremba{at}uiowa.edu

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