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5.1 Attention and emotion

Attention

  • Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in human:

    • for attention; function and more in general high cognitive processes

  • Attractor networks: labile (unstable) state to stable state

  • And this will cause the increased firing rates for the winning population and decreased firing rates for the losing populations
  • 也就是说，注意力高的对象对应的区域会有相对更高的firing rate

Neurotransmitters

  • Acetilcholine, Ach
    • Attention related: the cortically projecting cholinergic system, arising in the basal forebrain (BF)
  • Dopamine, DA
    • DA is strongly linked to reward signalling and the economic decision variable of utility
    • supporting prefrontal spatial working memory signals
  • Noradrenaline, Na
    • NA system form locus coeruleus (a region)
    • NA in PFC region (prefrontal cortex), involved in top-down control, like attention, working memory
    • NA in sensory cortex, involved in bottom-up state control
  • Serotonin
    • the abnormal serotonin system related to many diseases
    • 强迫症，广泛性焦虑障碍

Attention deficit

  • Caused by inherited effects(mostly) and environment
  • Treatment
    • MPH, increase the level of DA, NE in profrontal cortex
    • LDX, increase the activity of DA

Brain waves

  1. Delta（δ，0.5–3 Hz） 状态：深度无梦睡眠、深度放松，是身体自然疗愈、加速修复的状态，也用于睡眠障碍治疗，代表最高级别的放松与恢复。 特点：频率最低，波幅最高。
  2. Theta（θ，4–7 Hz） 状态：深度放松、冥想、快速眼动睡眠（REM），关联创伤修复、克服成瘾，常见于白日梦、心理意象，处于半清醒半潜意识的过渡状态。 特点：伴随乙酰胆碱分泌增加，波幅中等。
  3. Alpha（α，8–12 Hz） 状态：放松的大脑状态，涉及被动注意力、创造力，也与清醒平静、轻度冥想相关，是进入潜意识的 “阈值状态”。 特点：伴随血清素分泌增加，频率和波幅较高。
  4. Beta（β，13–30 Hz） 状态：活跃忙碌的思维，既可能对应焦虑 / 压力，也是正常思考、解决问题、清醒警觉的状态，与专注注意力相关，人类多数时间处于此状态。 特点：频率高，波幅低。
  5. Gamma（γ，31–120 Hz） 状态：全脑协同活动，与高效学习、问题解决、高度专注相关，还涉及感官整合（如嗅觉、视觉、听觉）、认知功能及极度清醒。 特点：频率最高，波幅低。

Limbic system

  • 边缘系统；负责处理emotions, memory, homeostasis, motivations

  • 这个系统包括：

    • amygdala: fear and emotion center
    • hypothalamic nuclei: involved in homeostasis, like hunger, satiety, thermoregulation, and sleep onset
    • olfactory
    • Septal nuclei: 参与情绪

More about amygdala

Summary of Amygdala Knowledge

1. Core Functions

  • Emotion & Behavior Regulation: Regulates anxiety, aggression, fear conditioning; processes fear/aversive stimuli and appetitive stimuli (food, sex, drugs). Involved in emotional memory consolidation and social cognition.
  • Memory Modulation: Activation modulates the acquisition and consolidation of emotion-related memories.

2. Internal Structural Division

  • Basolateral nucleus (BLA): Cortical-like structure in dorsal amygdala, regulating behavioral and physiological responses to stress.
  • Central amygdala (CeA): Critical for physiological responses to stressors (fearful stimuli, stressful stimuli, drug-related stimuli).
  • Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST, extended amygdala): Participates in anxiety and stress processing.
  • Lateral nucleus (LA): In fear conditioning, receives conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US) from thalamic and cortical regions of auditory/somatosensory systems. Facilitates plasticity in "trigger" and "storage" cells.

3. Fear Conditioning Mechanism

  • Signal Transmission: CS and US are relayed to LA. CS inputs enter LA’s dorsal subregion, interacting with US to induce neuronal plasticity.
  • Information Conduction: CS information transmits through LA to central nucleus (CE) for fear response integration.

4. Cellular Composition Features

  • BLA & sCLR: Resemble cerebral cortex. Mainly pyramidal-like spiny glutamatergic projection neurons, with sparse spiny GABAergic interneurons (parvalbumin (PV)-containing neurons, somatostatin (SOM) neurons).
  • Ce & Me nuclei: Resemble striatum/globus pallidus. Most neurons in CeL are highly branched spiny GABAergic neurons (like medium spiny neurons in striatum).
  • Centromedial extended amygdala (Ce, Me, BNST): Characterized by high expression of several neuropeptides.