title: Deficits in visual cognition and attention following bilateral anterior cingulotomy.
abstract: A series of eight tests of visual cognitive abilities was used to examine pre- to post-operative performance changes in a patient receiving bilateral anterior cingulotomy. Compared with a set of eight matched control participants, post-operatively, the patient exhibited deficits in (a) the ability to sequence novel cognitive operations required to generate multipart images or rotate perceptual stimuli; (b) the ability to search for, select, and compare images of objects when the instructions did not specify precisely which objects should be visualized; and, (c) the ability to select a controlled and unpracticed response over an automatic one. Other imagery and cognitive tasks were not affected. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that anterior cingulate cortex is a component of an executive control system. One of the anterior cingulate's roles may be to monitor on-line processing and signal the motivational significance of current actions or cognitions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. ochsner@psych.stanford.edu
authors.forename: K N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Ochsner
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Kosslyn
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Cosgrove
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Cassem
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Price
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Nierenberg
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Rauch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008606:Mental Processes; D014796:Visual Perception