Attention, working memory, and executive control are commonly considered distinct cognitive functions with important reciprocal interactions. Yet, longstanding evidence from lesion studies has demonstrated both overlap and dissociation in their behavioural expression and anatomical underpinnings, suggesting that a lower dimensional framework could be employed to further identify processes supporting goal-directed behaviour. Here, we describe the anatomical and functional correspondence between attention, working memory, and executive control by providing an overview of cognitive models, as well as recent data from lesion studies, invasive and non-invasive multimodal neuroimaging and brain stimulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhen we see someone's face, our brain usually effortlessly extracts a variety of information such as facial identity, expression, or gaze direction. While it is widely accepted that dedicated subsystems are responsible for different aspects of face processing, how these subsystems work together is not yet fully understood. To this extent, one of the most explored questions is whether and if so, to what extent facial expression processing interacts with other stages of facial processing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPatients with unilateral spatial neglect (USN) often show impaired performance in spatial working memory tasks, apart from the difficulty retrieving "left-sided" spatial data from long-term memory, shown in the "piazza effect" by Bisiach and colleagues. This study's aim was to compare the effect of the spatial position of a visual object on immediate and delayed memory performance in USN patients. Specifically, immediate verbal recall performance, tested using a simultaneous presentation of four visual objects in four quadrants, was compared with memory in a later-provided recognition task, in which objects were individually shown at the screen center.
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