Which structure regulates attention

These networks are involved in reward, focus, planning, attention, shifting between tasks, and movement.

Neurotransmitters There are chemicals that help to transmit signals from one nerve cell to the next throughout the networks in the brain.

These chemicals are called neurotransmitters. Dopamine and norepinephrine are two neurotransmitters that may play a role in ADHD. While scientists have shown that there are differences in the brain size, networks, neurotransmitters, and brain development of children with ADHD, they do not fully understand how these differences lead to the cause and the symptoms of ADHD.

Treatments for ADHD are thought to work in part by altering the levels of the neurotransmitters and changing how the networks function. When the subjects were told to look for faces, activity in the FFA and the IFJ became synchronized, suggesting that they were communicating with each other.

The researchers also found that the communication was initiated by the IFJ and the activity was staggered by 20 milliseconds — about the amount of time it would take for neurons to electrically convey information from the IFJ to either the FFA or PPA. The researchers believe that the IFJ holds onto the idea of the object that the brain is looking for and directs the correct part of the brain to look for it.

They are also investigating whether it might be possible to train people to better focus their attention by controlling the brain interactions involved in this process. Its structures include the hypothalamus, thalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus. The hypothalamus plays a role in the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which is a part of any emotional reaction.

The thalamus serves as a sensory relay center; its neurons project signals to both the amygdala and the higher cortical regions for further processing. The amygdala plays a role in processing emotional information and sending that information on to cortical structures. The hippocampus integrates emotional experience with cognition. Other parts of the limbic system include the olfactory bulbs, anterior nuclei, fornix, column of fornix, mammillary body, septum pellucidum, habenular commissure, cingulate gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, limbic cortex, and limbic midbrain areas.

The limbic system : The limbic system is the area of the brain involved with emotion and memory. The processes of the limbic system control our physical and emotional responses to environmental stimuli. This system categorizes the experience of an emotion as a pleasant or unpleasant mental state.

The amygdala plays a decisive role in the emotional evaluation and recognition of situations as well as in the analysis of potential threats. It handles external stimuli and induces vegetative reactions. Two parts of the amygdala include the basolateral complex and the central nucleus.

The basolateral complex has dense connections with a variety of sensory areas of the brain. It plays a critical role in classical conditioning and in attaching emotional value to learning processes and memories.

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