Deficits in visual cognition and attention following bilateral anterior cingulotomy.
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.
Ochsner
K N
KN
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. ochsner@psych.stanford.edu
Kosslyn
S M
SM
Cosgrove
G R
GR
Cassem
E H
EH
Price
B H
BH
Nierenberg
A A
AA
Rauch
S L
SL
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