Scopolamine slows the orienting of attention in primates to cued visual targets
Abstract
The cholinergic agonist nicotine facilitates visuospatial attention shifting, but the role of muscarinic cholinergic drugs in this behavior is unclear. In order to establish the generality of cholinergic action in attention shifting, we administered the muscarinic antagonist scopolamine to two rhesus monkeys trained to perform a cued target detection (Posner) task. In this task, monkeys signaled the detection of a peripheral visual target by releasing a switch and their reaction times were measured. The location of the target's appearance was preceded by a cue that was either valid (target and cue in the same spatial location), invalid (target and cue to opposite hemifields), spatially uninformative (cues in both hemifields, target to one hemifield), or omitted altogether. Scopolamine produced a dose-dependent increase in all reaction times and a decrease in accuracy. The slowing was most prominent for valid cues in either visual field. However, slowing did not occur in trials whose cues lacked spatial information, or in tasks in which attention was directed to events at the fixation point, whether or not peripheral distractors were present. These results provide additional support for the hypothesis that acetylcholine plays a key role in reflexive attention shifting to peripheral visual targets.
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The conceptualization of cholinergic transients in terms of mediating attentional orienting is consistent with the finding that cholinergic lesions or systemic or local cortical blockade of mAChRs impair attentional orienting.
“The conceptualization of cholinergic transients in terms of mediating attentional orienting is consistent with the finding that cholinergic lesions or systemic or local cortical blockade of mAChRs impair attentional orienting (Davidson & Marrocco, 2000; Davidson et al, 1999; Chiba et al, 1999; Phillips et al, 2000).”
From Modes and models of forebrain cholinergic neuromodulation of cognition (2011) · cites this paper as Davidson et al, 1999
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- Authors
- Davidson, M. C., Cutrell, E. B., & Marrocco, R. T.
- Affiliations
- University of Oregon (US)
- ORCID
- Cutrell, E. B.
- Venue
- Psychopharmacology
- Published
- 1999-02-18
- Volume
- 142
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-8
- ISSN
- 0033-3158 (ISSN-L)
- 1432-2072
- OpenAlex
- W2053363857
- Cited by
- 61
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 1.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Psychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Pew Charitable Trusts
- James S. McDonnell Foundation
- National Institutes of Health (5r01ns032973-03)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS-32973)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Study
- Keywords
- scopolamine, attentional orienting, acetylcholine, muscarinic cholinergic system, Posner task, rhesus monkeys, reaction time, cholinergic agonists
- MeSH terms
- Analysis of Variance, Animals, Attention, Cues, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Female, Macaca mulatta, Memory, Reaction Time, Scopolamine, Visual Fields, Muscarinic Antagonists
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