Frontal lobes and attention: Processes and networks, fractionation and integration
Abstract
The frontal lobes (FL), are they a general adaptive global capacity processor, or a series of fractionated processes? Our lesion studies focusing on attention have demonstrated impairments in distinct processes due to pathology in different frontal regions, implying fractionation of the “supervisory system.” However, when task demands are manipulated, it becomes evident that the frontal lobes are not just a series of independent processes. Increased complexity of task demands elicits greater involvement of frontal regions along a fixed network related to a general activation process. For some task demands, one or more anatomically distinct frontal processes may be recruited. In other conditions, there is a bottom-up nonfrontal/frontal network, with impairment noted maximally for the lesser task demands in the nonfrontal automatic processing regions, and then as task demands change, increased involvement of different frontal (more “strategic”) regions, until it appears all frontal regions are involved. With other measures, the network is top-down, with impairment in the measure first noted in the frontal region and then, with changing task demands, involving a posterior region. Adaptability is not just a property of FL, it is the fluid recruitment of different processes anywhere in the brain as required by the current task. ( JINS , 2006, 12 , 261–271.)
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The strong integration of frontal systems with other network modules forms a physiological basis for cognitive flexibility, enabling task switching and cognitive control during demanding tasks.
“It is intuitively plausible that the strong integration of frontal systems with other network modules forms a physiological basis for cognitive flexibility (15, 41), enabling task switching and cognitive control during demanding tasks (21, 42).”
From Dynamic reconfiguration of frontal brain networks during executive cognition in humans (2015) · cites this paper as [41]
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- Authors
- STUSS, D. T.
- Affiliations
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Corresponding author
- STUSS, DONALD T.
- ORCID
- STUSS, DONALD T.
- Venue
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2006-03
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 261-271
- ISSN
- 1355-6177 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7661
- OpenAlex
- W2150086375
- Cited by
- 150
- References
- 72
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 3.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Historical and Modern Theater Studies
- Keywords
- frontal lobe, attention, frontal lobe lesions, supervision system, task demands, bottom-up processing, top-down processing, automatic processing, cognitive flexibility
- MeSH terms
- Attention, Cognition, Frontal Lobe, Humans, Functional Laterality, Nerve Net
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