The role of neuromodulators in selective attention

Abstract

Several classes of neurotransmitters exert modulatory effects on a broad and diverse population of neurons throughout the brain. Some of these neuromodulators, especially acetylcholine and dopamine, have long been implicated in the neural control of selective attention. We review recent evidence and evolving ideas about the importance of these neuromodulatory systems in attention, particularly visual selective attention. We conclude that, although our understanding of their role in the neural circuitry of selective attention remains rudimentary, recent research has begun to suggest unique contributions of neuromodulators to different forms of attention, such as bottom-up and top-down attention. From correlates to causes The majority of work on the neural mechanisms of selective attention, particularly visual selective attention (see Glossary), has focused on the changes in neural activity observed in epochs in which particular stimuli are either behaviorally relevant or irrelevant to a particular task at hand. Changes in neural activity, whether measured in the spiking activity of individual neurons (e.g., [1]) or populations of neurons (e.g., Largely separate from these studies are studies that have addressed the long-suspected role of particular neuromodulators in attentional control in a variety of species, including humans, in both normal and clinical subject