Goal-directed selective attention and response competition monitoring: evidence from unilateral parietal and anterior cingulate lesions

Neuropsychology. 2000 Jan;14(1):16-28. doi: 10.1037//0894-4105.14.1.16.

Abstract

Competing visual stimuli lead to slower responses to targets. This response competition must be resolved before correct responses are executed. Neuroimaging suggests that response competition monitoring may be subserved by an integrated neural network including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). In this study, 1 patient with a parietal lesion (Patient J.S.) and 1 with an ACC lesion (Patient G.M.) were presented with 2 flanker tasks; 1 required verbal identification of color targets, and the other required an opposite response to targets (e.g., see red and say "green"); a control group was also tested. For controls, perceptually incongruent flankers interfered with the ability to inhibit prepotent responses to targets. Patient J.S. performed in a similar manner, even when flankers appeared in the neglected field. Patient G.M. demonstrated reduced interference effects for contralesional flankers. Results are discussed in terms of goal-directed selective attention and response competition monitoring.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Attention / physiology*
  • Eye Movements / physiology
  • Female
  • Functional Laterality*
  • Goals*
  • Gyrus Cinguli / diagnostic imaging*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mental Processes / physiology
  • Middle Aged
  • Nerve Net / physiology
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Parietal Lobe / diagnostic imaging*
  • Reaction Time
  • Stroke / diagnostic imaging
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed
  • Visual Fields / physiology
  • Visual Perception / physiology