Abstract
Alertness, the most basic intensity aspect of attention, probably is a prerequisite forthe more complex and capacity demanding domains of attention selectivity. Behaviorally,intrinsic alertness represents the internal (cognitive) control of wakefulness and arousal; typicaltasks to assess optimal levels of intrinsic alertness are simple reaction time measurementswithout preceding warning stimuli. Up until now only parts of the cerebral network subservingalertness have been revealed in animal, lesion, and functional imaging studies. Here, in a 15O-butanol PET activation study in 15 right-handed young healthy male volunteers for thisbasic attention function we found an extended right hemisphere network including frontal(anterior cingulate–dorsolateral cortical)–inferior parietal–thalamic (pulvinar and possibly thereticular nucleus) and brainstem (ponto-mesencephalic tegmentum, possibly involving the locuscoeruleus) structures, when subjects waited for and rapidly responded to a centrally presentedwhite dot by pressing a response key with the right-hand thumb.
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