MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, CB2 7EF UK; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3UD, UK.
Neuron. 2013 Oct 2;80(1):35-50. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.09.015.
Cognition is organized in a structured series of attentional episodes, allowing complex problems to be addressed through solution of simpler subproblems. A "multiple-demand" (MD) system of frontal and parietal cortex is active in many different kinds of tasks, and using data from neuroimaging, electrophysiology, neuropsychology, and cognitive studies of intelligence, I propose a core role for MD regions in assembly of the attentional episode. Monkey and human data show dynamic neural coding of attended information across multiple MD regions, with rapid communication within and between regions. Neuropsychological and imaging data link MD function to fluid intelligence, explaining some but not all "executive" deficits after frontal lobe lesions. Cognitive studies link fluid intelligence to goal neglect, and the problem of dividing complex task requirements into focused parts. Like the innate releasing mechanism of ethology, I suggest that construction of the attentional episode provides a core organizational principle for complex, adaptive cognition.
认知是有组织的一系列注意力事件，通过解决更简单的子问题来处理复杂问题。额顶皮质的“多需求”（MD）系统在许多不同类型的任务中都很活跃，并且根据神经影像学、电生理学、神经心理学和智力认知研究的数据，我提出 MD 区域在注意力事件组装中的核心作用。猴子和人类的数据显示，在多个 MD 区域中，注意力信息的神经编码是动态的，区域内和区域之间的快速通讯。神经心理学和成像数据将 MD 功能与流体智力联系起来，解释了额叶损伤后一些但不是所有“执行”缺陷。认知研究将流体智力与目标忽视以及将复杂任务要求划分为重点部分的问题联系起来。就像天生的释放机制一样，我认为注意力事件的构建为复杂、适应性认知提供了一个核心组织原则。
