Neural Mechanism Of Attention Networks

Objective Attention function is important in cognition ,which is be subjected to numerous scholars extensive concern. Both the neuroanatomy and neurotransmitter of attention networks are not clear. We began this study with the proposal to elucidate correlation between attention networks and nicotine. Also, we aimed to investigate the impairment of attention networks in patients with lesion in the cerebellum.Methods Study 1: Used the attention network test. As part of the parent study, all participants were asked questions about smoking behavior, they were divided in two groups .The first group is non-smoking and the second is smoking.50 males were all healthy at least 18 years free of medical or psychiatric health complications .Study 2: Used the attention network test. Compare patients with lesion in the cerebellum (n=30) with normal controls (n=31) on the efficiency of three anatomically defined attentional networks: alerting, orienting, and executive control.Results Study 1: Non-smoking showed significantly positively correlated with the executive control network effects and RT after administration of nicotine (p <0.05). Smoking showed deficits in RT ( p <0.05) . Non-smoking and smoking showed significantly positively in RT before administration of nicotine (p <0.05). Study 2:The orienting network effect was significantly worse (p <0.05) in patients with lesion in the cerebellum (36.43±29.54ms) than in normal controls( 54.39±22.17ms ). The executive control network in patients (159.97±86.17 ms) with lesion in the cerebellum was worse than those of controls (93.42±37.41 ms). The alerting networks effects was higher in patients (33.53±44.54 ms) than in normal controls (28.81±26.09ms), but there was no significant difference (p>0.05). The average reaction time was longer in patients than in normal controls, but there was no significant difference (p >0.05). The wrong rate of attention network test was significantly higher (p <0.05) in patients (6.40%±9.53%) than in normal controls (3.38%±5.42%).Conclusion Study 1: As we all know, regularly smoking was harm to cognition. The smoking suffered executive control networks deficits. The attention damages of the nicotine were correlated with the length of time. The attention networks of non-smoking were improved after administration of nicotine. Overall our findings identified that the length of time of administration of nicotine impact different in the attention networks. Study 2:These results suggest that patients with lesion in the cerebellum have selective impairments of the orienting and executive networks, while the alerting network is spared.