Regulating access to consciousness: cortical mechanisms of attention

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Regulating access to consciousness: cortical mechanisms of attention Gabriele Gratton1* and Diane Beck1 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 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 14 Nov 2011; Published Online: 28 Nov 2011. * Correspondence: Prof. Gabriele Gratton, University of Illinois, Illinois, United States, grattong@illinois.edu Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Gabriele Gratton Diane Beck Google Gabriele Gratton Diane Beck Google Scholar Gabriele Gratton Diane Beck PubMed Gabriele Gratton Diane Beck Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.