Posner M I, Rothbart M K
Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, USA.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1998 Nov 29;353(1377):1915-27. doi: 10.1098/rstb.1998.0344.
Consciousness has many aspects. These include awareness of the world, feelings of control over one's behaviour and mental state (volition), and the notion of continuing self. Focal (executive) attention is used to control details of our awareness and is thus closely related to volition. Experiments suggest an integrated network of neural areas involved in executive attention. This network is associated with our voluntary ability to select among competing items, to correct error and to regulate our emotions. Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that these various functions involve separate areas of the anterior cingulate. We have adopted a strategy of using marker tasks, shown to activate the brain area by imaging studies, as a means of tracing the development of attentional networks. Executive attention appears to develop first to regulate distress during the first year of life. During later childhood the ability to regulate conflict among competing stimuli builds upon the earlier cingulate anatomy to provide a means of cognitive control. During childhood the activation of cingulate structures relates both to the child's success on laboratory tasks involving conflict and to parental reports of self-regulation and emotional control. These studies indicate a start in understanding the anatomy, circuitry and development of executive attention networks that serve to regulate both cognition and emotion.
意识具有多个方面。这些方面包括对世界的感知、对自身行为和心理状态的控制感（意志）以及持续自我的概念。焦点（执行）注意力用于控制我们意识的细节，因此与意志密切相关。实验表明存在一个参与执行注意力的神经区域整合网络。该网络与我们在相互竞争的项目中进行选择、纠正错误以及调节情绪的自愿能力相关。最近的神经影像学研究表明，这些不同的功能涉及前扣带回的不同区域。我们采用了一种策略，即使用经成像研究证明能激活脑区的标记任务，作为追踪注意力网络发展的一种手段。执行注意力似乎首先在生命的第一年发展起来以调节痛苦。在童年后期，调节相互竞争刺激之间冲突的能力建立在早期的扣带回结构之上，以提供一种认知控制手段。在童年时期，扣带回结构的激活既与儿童在涉及冲突的实验室任务中的成功有关，也与父母对自我调节和情绪控制的报告有关。这些研究为理解执行注意力网络的解剖结构、神经回路和发展提供了一个开端，这些网络有助于调节认知和情绪。
