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The ebb and flow of attention in the human brain

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Lapses in attention can impair performance independent of the task. A new imaging study reports that reduced activity in prefrontal attentional control regions at the beginning of a trial predicts longer reaction times.

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Figure 1: Lateral view of the right hemisphere, highlighting some of the cortical regions associated with focused and lapsed attention.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Building 46-3160, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts, USA

    Trey Hedden & John D E Gabrieli

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  1. Trey Hedden
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  2. John D E Gabrieli
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Hedden, T., Gabrieli, J. The ebb and flow of attention in the human brain. Nat Neurosci 9, 863–865 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0706-863

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