Supramodal and modality-specific brain mechanisms for the regulation of intrinsic alertness

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Supramodal and modality-specific brain mechanisms for the regulation of intrinsic alertness Robert Langner1*, K. Willmes1, T. Kellermann1, F. Boers2, K. Mathiak1 and W. Sturm1 1 RWTH Aachen University, Germany 2 Institute of Neuroscience and Biophysics , Germany Alertness is a basic nonselective function of attention and can be defined as general readiness to respond to task demands. Intrinsic alertness refers to the maintenance of an alert state without external cues (e.g., warning signals) over seconds up to minutes – in contrast to phasic alertness, which denotes the transient increase in response readiness after some cue in the millisecond range. The level of alertness is usually measured as response speed in simple reaction-time tasks. The regulation of intrinsic alertness is assumed to be subserved by a large, mainly right-lateralized cortico-thalamo-mesencephalic network. Using fMRI, this study aimed at identifying modality-dependent vs. independent parts of this network. Brain activity of 22 right-handed participants was measured while performing simple reaction-time tasks involving auditory, visual or vibrotactile stimuli. Control conditions for sensory stimulation and motor activity requiring little intrinsic alertness consisted of high-rate presentations of the respective stimuli used in the reaction-time tasks, which were accompanied by the participants’ rhythmically pressing the response button. A blocked design was used comprising six 20-s task blocks of each condition. A conjunction analysis across the three modalities revealed overlapping activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), right superior temporal gyrus (STG) and thalamus. Modality-dependent activity was found in respective higher-level sensory and posterior parietal areas. These findings support the role of the ACC, STG and thalamus in the maintenance of vigilance and arousal and suggest that they influence activity in areas mediating task-specific attention effects. Conference: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Turkey, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Attention Citation: Langner R, Willmes K, Kellermann T, Boers F, Mathiak K and Sturm W (2008). Supramodal and modality-specific brain mechanisms for the regulation of intrinsic alertness. Conference Abstract: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.100 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: 02 Dec 2008; Published Online: 02 Dec 2008. * Correspondence: Robert Langner, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany, rolangner@ukaachen.de 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 Robert Langner K. Willmes T. Kellermann F. Boers K. Mathiak W. Sturm Google Robert Langner K. Willmes T. Kellermann F. Boers K. Mathiak W. Sturm Google Scholar Robert Langner K. Willmes T. Kellermann F. Boers K. Mathiak W. Sturm PubMed Robert Langner K. Willmes T. Kellermann F. Boers K. Mathiak W. Sturm 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.