The predictive brain state: asynchrony in disorders of attention?

Abstract

It is postulated that a key function of attention in goal-oriented behavior is to reduce performance variability by generating anticipatory neural activity that can be synchronized with expected sensory information. A network encompassing the prefrontal cortex, parietal lobe, and cerebellum may be critical in the maintenance and timing of such predictive neural activity. Dysfunction of this temporal process may constitute a fundamental defect in attention, causing working memory problems, distractibility, and decreased awareness.

Figure 1

Diagram Showing How Anticipatory Timing Can Facilitate Performance in a Simple Cueing Task When the Time of a Stimulus Occurs after a Known Interval. Predictive timing allows the participant to anticipate the stimulus and generate an expectancy of the resulting feedback. Accurate predictive timing ensures synchronization of the predictions, in this example, generated in anticipation of the “Go” stimulus.

Figure 2

Predictive Neural Network That Is Activated in Cued, Learned Attention Tasks in the Time Period before Task Presentation. The sensory cue (CUE), with a visual cue as an example, activates the cerebellum (Cbllm) to delay motor or cognitive action to coincide with onset of the cued task. This learned delay, mediated by the cerebellum, synchronizes expectancy with actual sensory input. The timed expectancy is manifested by a mainly right-sided coherence (large gray arrowheads) between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and inferior parietal lobe (IPL).