Soviet Psychology

ISSN: 0038-5751 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/mrpo19

Neurophysiological Mechanisms of Attention

L. D. Démina

To cite this article: L. D. Démina (1980) Neurophysiological Mechanisms of Attention, Soviet

Psychology, 18:4, 52-71

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.2753/RPO1061-0405180452

Published online: 19 Dec 2014.

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 L. D. Demina

NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS
O F ATTENTION

According to contemporary notions, the functional states of

the brain a r e stages of a single continuum, the, lower limit of
which is a state of coma and sleep, and the upper limit, a state
of hyperexcitation and alertness [2, 6, 24, 28, 32, and others].
Among the various functional states, attention, in both its
voluntary and involuntary forms, reflecting an optimal level of
alertness, occupies a special place. Currently it is popular to
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regard attention a s a factor in which one bit of information is

selected out and another is simultaneously excluded. Signs of at-
tention may be found in any mental process with regard to its con-
tent; they determine the dynamics and direction of such pro-
cesses [ 6 , ?, 16, 18, 22, 29, and others].
In its origins attention is a socially mediated function,
formed in the midst of life activity. This process is at first
based on external environmental stimuli, then later on a child's
own speech, and still later is transformed into an internally
controllable activity [ 3, 4, 5, 7, and others].
In contemporary literature the neurophysiological mecha-

Russian text 01979 by "Pedagogika" Publishers.

VOP. Psikhol., 1979, NO. 2, pp. 85-96.
The author is from Altai State University.

52
 The Neurophysiology of Attention 53

nisms of attention a r e linked to nonspecific structures at dif-

ferent levels in the brain. The activity of these structures is
manifested in the form of persisting changes in the functional
state of the brain and relatively brief orienting responses (lo-
cal changes in activation). Both types of activity have their own
specific mechanisms and display different dynamic patterns.
These different types of activation also underlie both involun-
tary and voluntary attention [ 16, 25, and others]. Involuntary
attention is evoked by discrepant stimuli, and hence generalized
changes in activity may be sufficient for its realization. On the
other hand, voluntary attention is usually preceded by a special
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preparatory set; consequently, for it to occur additional mech-

anisms must be set into motion, and functional systems de-
veloped in the course of life activity must participate. To o r -
ganize voluntary attention not only general but local activation
of cerebral structures is necessary, since such activation
makes possible the selection of the necessary information, at
the same time blocking out nonessential signals. These char-
acteristics of the neurophysiological correlates of attention can
be discovered only if subjects a r e engaged in purposeful ac-
tivity that produces stable, general and local activation of the
participating cerebral structures.
Numerous neurophysiological, neuropsychological, and clini-
cal findings show that the frontal lobes are a necessary factor
in the realization of complex and voluntary mental phenomena,
including attention [ l , 7 , 12, 15, 16, 251.
Nevertheless, generally speaking, the specific cerebral
mechanisms that participate in attention have not been suffi-
ciently clarified. Moreover, a comparison of the mechanisms
of involuntary and voluntary attention is important for ascer -
taining the precise role of the different levels of the nonspe-
cific system in the selective recruitment of cerebral struc-
tures according to the nature of the activity being performed.
Study of this sort of question can be useful at the practical level
as well, in determining methods for diagnosing the functional
state of a normal person (under normal working conditions, and
in extreme situations, f o r operators, drivers, dispatchers,
 54 L. D. Demina

pilots, astronauts, and others) and of patients with local brain

damage.
Neurosurgery f o r local brain damage and, above all, study
of the particular features of processes of activation and atten-
tion in local frontal lobe damage and damage of diencephalic
structures offer extensive opportunities for shedding light on
these problems; this is particularly true of the study of local
brain damage, since the frontal lobes and the diencephalic
structures play an important role in the organization of the in-
tegrative activity of the brain and of local activation.
One of the parameters of local activation accompanying at-
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tention is the evoked potential. Studies of Soviet and foreign

authors have shown that when a subject's attention is attracted
to stimuli, the amplitude of evoked potentials increases, la-
tency periods shorten, the duration of the potentials increases,
their configuration becomes more complicated, and they a r e
propagated more widely over the cerebral cortex. Distraction
of attention from stimuli has the reverse effect [ 7, 11, 13,
14, 25, 17, 30, 331.
Which components of an evoked potential (EP) change the
most when attention is attracted to stimuli remains unclear,
however; furthermore, we do not know enough about the dy-
namic characteristics of evoked potentials elicited by repeated
presentation of neutral stimuli and cue stimuli when visual
stimulation is applied by various methods. Thus, the chief
tasks of this study were the following:
(1) to study the features of attention when neutral and cue
stimuli a r e presented repeatedly and when tasks varying in con-
tent and addressed mainly either to the anterior o r to the pos-
terior section of the brain a r e carried out;
(2) to study the role of the frontal lobes of the left and right
-
hemispheres using different methods of visual stimulation
(central, lateral)- in the organization of different forms of
attention.
-
The results of a study of 124 subjects including 38 normal
subjects, 57 patients with local lesions of the frontal lobes, and
28 patients with lesions elsewhere than in the lobes and hemi-
 The Neurophysiology of Attention 55

-
spheres a r e presented. For most of the patients the site of
the lesion was verified during surgery. For the others it was
verified on the basis of the clinical picture of the disease and
by contrast methods. A l l the patients underwent a neuropsy-
chological examination. The study was done at the Laboratory
of Neuropsychology of Moscow State University and the Bur-
denko Institute of Neurosurgery of the USSR Academy of Medi-
cal Sciences.

Method
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Evoked potentials were recorded in response to a standard

flash from a light -sound stimulator of the Alvar system after
10-min adaptation of the subject to the dark. The flashes were
presented at l-5-sec intervals against the background of a de-
pressed alpha wave either to the center of the field of vision
o r laterally (in the left o r right parts of the field of vision).
The site of the electrode leads for the evoked potentials cor-
responded to the content of the activity being carried out. Bi-
polar and monopolar leads were used in the study.
The evoked potentials were averaged on a special automatic
instrument, the Mnemograph-1 of the Alvar Company, and by
a method of photosuperposition; a number of authors [ 8, 9, 15,
and others] have pointed out the expediency of using the photo-
superposition method when the number of values being averaged
is small and there is a high probability that artefacts will occur.
Three s e r i e s of experiments were run.
The first s e r i e s consisted of recording evoked potentials
(EPs) in response to the presentation of neutral stimuli. The
subjects were instructed: "Sit quietly, and relax as much as
possible." The findings of this series of experiments served
as the background characteristics of E P s o r their character-
istics under conditions of involuntary attention.
To obtain E P s under conditions of voluntary attention, we
used a method involving tasks differing in content and presented
by verbal instructions and addressed mainly to the anterior o r
to the posterior sections of the brain [ 14, 161.
 56 L, D. Demina

Center Center
Left field of vision

Right
hand

I1 2
!
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Figure 1. Diagram showing the formation of a conditional con-

nection in the human cerebral cortex as the result of succes-
sive dual stimulation (1)and cross-stimulation (2).

The second series of experiments involved the recording of

EPs in a situation in which the subjects had to carry out a sen-
sory exercise in accordance with the instructions "Tell which
of the presented flashes is shorter." After each pair of flashes,
the subject gave an answer. Two-thirds of all the answers
were correct, and one -third were incorrect. We called this
experimental situation sensory attention.
The third series consisted of recording E P s during per-
formance of a motor task in accordance with the instruction
"Press the button as fast as you can in response to each flash."
We referred to this set of conditions as motor attention.
These tasks were carried out under two types of Stimulation:
central and lateral. In lateral stimulation, each hemisphere
received in turn the most activation [ 20, 21, 271. With this
method of visual stimulation the use of different kinds of ex-
ercises made it possible to apply to each hemisphere either
dual stimulation (by giving the hand controlled by the hemi-
sphere stimulated by the flashes something to do) o r cross
stimulation (with the hand controlled by the other hemisphere
being active) (Figure 1).
A total of 360 flashes were presented to each subject during
the experiment. In each case 30 individual responses were
 The Neurophysiology of Attention 57

recorded to obtain the aver-

age evoked potential. To
characterize the dynamics of
E P s elicited by repeated neu-
tral and cue stimuli, the 1st
through the loth, 11th through
20th, and 21st through 30th
responses were averaged
separately for each subject.
Variations in evoked po-
tentials (during the period
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from 80 to 500 msec after the

stimulus) in the occipital-
parietal and premotor sec-
tions of the left and right
hemispheres were analyzed
in t e r m s of the following pa-
rameters: amplitude, latency,
area between the z e r o line
and the envelope curve, and
coefficient of asymmetry,
which was calculated for the
entire evoked potential and
for its individual components
in accordance with the formula:
9 hr
Figure 2. Typical shapes for the
a r e a under the late E P compo-
nents; the areas a r e between the
zero line and the envelope curve;
the proportions a r e for involun-
tary and voluntary attention.
m e r e 1 -A, =h 111+ h z I z ; Z-&=Zh 111 ; 3-A3=hlll;
4 - & = h ~ l 7 + h ~ lS-&=llhi ~; ; 6-&,=h,li+
+ l / ~ ~ 1 , + ' / 2 h , r , + 1 / ~ ~ 1 ~ ; 7-A,%h Il,+hz~z;
8-&* 1 I1 +Zhzl~+h313; 9 - 4 =h I 11 +h,lz

- R' - sL
X lOO%, where SR is the a r e a of the evoked
Kas - Smax
potential in the right hemisphere and SL is i t s a r e a in the left
hemisphere.
Following E. Yu. Artem'eva's suggestion, we introduced the
index A , which characterizes the planimetric divergence of one
potential from another, to evaluate the reliability of variations
in EPs in different situations. For this purpose we distinguished
the most typical forms for the a r e a s under the curve, whose propor-
tions were determined for both involuntary and voluntary atten-
tion (Figure 2). To construct the limits of significant changes
 58 L. D. Demina
A B I L R

I I
Figure 3. Examples of E P s of normal subjects in the premotor
sections of the left and right hemispheres after central and
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lateral visual stimulation: I - central stimulation; II - lateral

stimulation; L - stimulation on the left side; R -stimulation
-
on the right side; 1 E P s in a state of quiet waking; 2 , 3 -
EPs in a state of motor attention with the subject's right and
left hands active; A - -
left hemisphere; B right hemisphere;
-
a, b, c successively average EPs (1-10, 11-20, 21-30).

in EP parameters, we used 0.10 as a criterion.

Results

Our studies showed that under normal conditions, when visual

stimulation is applied centrally and repeated neutral stimuli
a r e used, there is a gradual decrease in the amplitude and a r e a
of late fluctuations in evoked potentials. The variations in la-
tencies displayed greater variety, but on the whole they tended
to increase. In a situation of involuntary attention, the extinc-
tion of evoked potentials was roughly equally pronounced in all
areas of the brain (Figure 3, I, 1, AB). Extinction w a s most
pronounced in the waves Ng0 and P220 (in the parietal-occip-
ital) and Hi50 and P230 (in the premotor) sections of the
brain. Under these same conditions, a slight asymmetry was
observed in the parietal-occipital sections of the brain, where
the coefficient of asymmetry was 10.1%; in the premotor sec-
tions, it was 20%.
Lateral presentation of flashes under conditions of involun-
 The Neurophysiology of Attention 59

Values for the Coefficient of Interhemispheric

E P Asymmetry (in Percentage) for Central
and Lateral Visual Stimulation

Lateral
Right -side Left -side
Central stimulation stimulation
Parietal - Parietal- P r e - Parietal- Pre-
Series occipital P r e - occipital motor occipital motor
No. sections motor sections sections sections sections
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I 10.1 20 35 30.9 38 34

I1 20.0 18 37 14 43 15.8

ma 14.7 24 22 45 24.8 36
b 20.3 40.8 30 41
Note: a - motor responses of right hand; b - motor r e -
sponses of left hand.

tary attention produced an increase in interhemispheric differ -

ences, the E P parameters being generally higher in the right
hemisphere (Table). In the case of visual stimulation on the
right side, the coefficient of asymmetry in the parietal-occip-
ital sections was 35%; with stimulation of the left side, this
figure w a s 38%. The corresponding figures in the premotor
sections were 30.9% and 34%, respectively (Figure 3, II, 1).
Presentation of stimuli to the center of the field of vision of
normal subjects during the first test (discrimination of flashes
according to length) resulted in the opposite (compared with
involuntary attention) dynamic pattern for EPs: as the signifi-
cant stimuli were repeated, the amplitude, a r e a , and extent of
shortening of the latency of late E P waves increased. A simi-
lar pattern for E P s was also observed in subjects during the
second test.
In the case of sensory attention, the greatest changes in
 60 L. D. Demina

evoked potentials were noted for the parietal-occipital sections

of the brain. In these cases the coefficient of asymmetry w a s
20%, owing to an increase in the amplitude and area of waves
in the right hemisphere. The P i g o wave was the most sensitive
(coefficient of asymmetry, 23%). This pattern was reproduced
in the case of lateral visual stimulation under these conditions,
but a considerable increase in the coefficient of asymmetry was
observed. Thus, in the case of the right-side stimulation, this
coefficient w a s 3vo; for stimulation on the left side, it was 43%.
In the premotor sections, these figures were 14% and 15%,
respectively .
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Under conditions of motor attention, when flashes were pre-

sented to the center of the field of vision, the maximum EP
changes were observed in the premotor sections (Figure 3, 2).
The coefficient of asymmetry was 24% (14.vo in the occipital-
parietal regions), because of an increase in E P parameters in
the left hemisphere. The N130 and P210 waves were more
asymmetric. In the case of lateral stimulation, the EPs showed
the highest parameters, as before, in the premotor section, in
the hemisphere contralateral to the side of the stimulus and the
hand used by the subject (Figure 3, II,2 , 3). The greatest in-
trahemispheric asymmetry occurred in the case of simulta-
neous (dual) stimulation of the same hemisphere. This was ob -
served when the stimuli were applied to the right side of the
field of vision and when the right hand responded (coefficient
of asymmetry, 45%) o r when the visual stimulus was applied
to the left side and the left hand responded (coefficient, 41%).
Under conditions of cross Stimulation, the coefficient of
asymmetry was less, but persisted because of the greater E P
parameters in the hemisphere governing the active hand. Thus,
in the case of left-side stimulation and motor responses of the
right hand, interhemispheric asymmetry was 36% in the pre-
motor sections, whereas when the stimuli were presented to
the right side of the field of vision and the left hand was'active,
the coefficient was 40.8%. In this situation the subject's active
hand had no influence on the magnitude of interhemispheric
asymmetry in the occipital-parietal sections of the brain,
 The Neurophysiology of Attention 61

where it was 24.8% and 20.3%, and 3Ho and 22%, respectively.
The waves Ngo and P220 (in the parietal-occipital sections) and
N150 and P230 (in the premotor sections) were the most asym-
metric .
A heightening of attention as subjects performed tests with
stimuli made the configuration of the latter section of the re-
sponse more complicated (additional EP waves with a latency
of P290-380 appeared; these were absent in the case of involun-
tary attention).
The significance of the changes in the late components of
evoked potentials in different states was 40% to 92% in theA
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parameter. This parameter was 100% for components recorded

only when attention was heightened.
In all the experimental situations, when the test was stopped,
the E P s usually returned to their initial values.
Thus, a study of the patterns of change in evoked potentials
under conditions of involuntary and voluntary attention, with
visual stimulation presented t o different points, enabled us to
discover and describe a number of patterns typical of normal
subjects. To understand them it is necessary to compare the
results obtained with similar results obtained on patients with
lesions in various sections of the frontal lobes and the deep-
lying sections of the brain.
A study of the activity of such patients under conditions of
involuntary and voluntary attention showed that all patients
displayed abnormalities, varying in structure, in the regulation
of activation processes. Three groups of patients were d i s -
tinguished on the basis of the dynamic parameters of the late
EP components. The principal criterion for dividing the pa-
tients into different groups w a s the specific pattern of abnor-
malities in voluntary regulation of processes of nonspecific
activation as the patients performed the above -described tasks
requiring a concentration of voluntary attention.
The first group consisted of 14 patients with gross abnor-
malities in voluntary attention. This group of patients d i s -
played a permanent, generalized nonresponsiveness of E P s no
matter what test was being performed and no matter where the
 62 L. D. Demina

visual stimulus was applied. In this group both amplitude pa-

rameters and time parameters were nonresponsive.
This kind of nonresponsiveness of E P late components in a
situation of voluntary attention was characteristic of patients
with lesions in the basal and medial sections of the frontal
lobes.
A neuropsychological study of patients of this group showed
moderate symptoms of dysfunction in the anterior sections of
the brain: disturbance of reciprocal coordination, various
symptoms of emotional disorders, disorders in the dynamics
of thought processes, flaws in selectivity, and modal-nonspeci-
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fic memory disorders. Although the general orientation of

these patients in place and time was relatively intact, disorders
in the concentration of attention, a narrowing of its span, ex-
haustion, and heightened distractibility were observed.
The EPs of patients of this group displayed grossly reduced
amplitudes and areas and heightened latency of late components
o r , on the other hand, sharply increased amplitude-time pa-
rameters, even in a state of calm waking.
In a situation of involuntary attention there w a s practically
no interhemispheric asymmetry in E P s such as is character-
istic of normal subjects, whether stimulation was applied cen-
trally or laterally in the field of vision. The coefficient of
asymmetry was no more than 4%. Evoked potentials did not
extinguish as neutral stimuli were repeated.
Attraction of attention to the stimuli did not result in any
significant change in EP parameters, nor did it restore a nor-
mal dynamic pattern in E P s as the significant stimuli were r e -
peated (Figure 4, I, A).
The second group of 2 5 subjects consisted of patients in
whom the nonresponsiveness of E P parameters in situations of
voluntary attention was not generalized but local, that is, only
in the anterior sections of the brain. In addition, in this group
of patients attraction of attention to the stimuli did have some
effect, albeit a brief one. This group of patients had frontal
lobe lesions located outside the mediobasal sections.
The neuropsychological "frontal syndrome" featured moder -
 The Neurophysiology of Attention 63
A B A B
44
First group of patients

patients
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n
Figure 4. Chief forms of disorders in the dynamic pattern of
E P s and in interhemispheric asymmetry of late E P waves in
different experimental conditions in patients with frontal lobe
lesions. Legend same as in Figure 3.

ate disorders of mental processes in this group, with general

orientation to place and time relatively intact. Premotor o r
premotor -temporal and prefrontal symptoms predominated,
and attention was flighty. In some patients a neuropsychologi-
cal examination disclosed no local disorders in higher mental
processes.
In the case of passive perception of stimuli in a situation of
involuntary attention, abnormalities in the dynamic pattern of
E P s were observed in all sections. The amplitude and magni-
tude of the a r e a s under the late wave either remained constant
o r considerably increased as neutral stimuli were repeated.
A s a rule, when attention w a s attracted during sensory d i s -
crimination of stimuli, the parameters of evoked potentials in
the parietal-occipital sections tended to change in the same
direction as in normal subjects, i.e., as the stimuli were re-
peated, the amplitude increased and the latency of late waves of
evoked potentials decreased. Similar observations were made
when the light flashes were applied laterally.
However, in the case of motor attention, such results were
 64 L. D. Demina

not observed in the premotor sections; different kinds of dis-

orders in the regulation of EP parameters were noted in a sit -
uation of involuntary attention (Figure 4, I, B):
1. Diminished activation (in eight persons) w a s character-
ized only b y a brief increase in local activation, accompanied
by heightening of voluntary attention. This was observed only
when one to ten flashes were presented (one averaged EP).
Subsequent repetition of the stimuli caused a successive de-
crease in these parameters.
2. Unsteady activation (in three persons) was observed in
situations in which repetition of the cue stimuli was accom-
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panied by an increase in the amplitude and a decrease in the

latency of the first average E P , whereas in the second average
E P all these parameters decreased instead of further increas-
ing, and in the third average EP, they again increased com-
pared with a state of quiet waking.
3. Late activation (three persons) featured signs of an in-
crease in the activity of brain structures as the subjects per-
formed the stimulus tests only in the case of the second aver-
age EP and, more frequently, in the third E P , i.e., after 11-20
and 21-30 stimuli were applied.
4. A paradoxical effect (nine persons) occurred in cases in
which instead of an increase in the amplitude of waves and the
a r e a s under them and a decrease in the latency of evoked po-
tentials, heightened voluntary attention (as under normal con -
ditions) produced the opposite effect, namely, a steady decrease
in all these parameters in all three successively averaged
EPs.
The interhemispheric asymmetry of EPs sharply increased
as the patients of this group performed the tests. The coef-
ficient of asymmetry reached 30%-70% in the case of central
stimulation (instead of 2wo -24% under normal conditions) and
80%-83% in the case of lateral stimulation (in place of 41%-
45%). The interhemispheric asymmetry of late E P compo-
nents was due to an increase in the amplitudes and areas under
the late components of EPs in the damaged hemisphere and to
similar changes in the normal hemisphere and did not depend
 The Neurophysiology of Attention 65

either on the side to which the stimuli were presented or on

which of the patient's hands was active. Figure 4, 11, shows
the main types of disorders in interhemispheric relationships
between E P s in the patients.
The third group consisted of 20 patients with lesions in the
parietal-occipital and temporal sections of the hemispheres
and in structures situated in the posterior cranial fossa. The
neuropsychological syndromes of patients of this group de-
pended on the location of the lesion.
The common feature for all these patients was an abnormal
pattern in late EP components in a situation of involuntary a t -
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tention when neutral stimuli were presented; this abnormality

w a s either local (in patients with a lesion of the parietal-oc-
cipital o r temporal sections) o r generalized (in the case of
damage to structures of the posterior cranial fossa). In the
first case, up to 3 f l o interhemispheric asymmetry of E P s w a s
observed, with recording of high-amplitude components on the
side on which the lesion w a s located. In the second case, the
changes in E P parameters in response to application of neutral
stimuli were equivalent in all leads. The coefficient of asym-
metry was small, not exceeding 2%-4%.
The test involving discrimination of stimuli by length pro -
duced a restoration of a normal dynamic pattern to E P s in the
parietal-occipital sections. In the case of the motor-type t e s t s ,
an analogous pattern w a s observed in late EP components dur-
ing stimulation of the premotor sections as well.
In a situation of heightened voluntary attention, interhemi-
spheric asymmetry of E P s also normalized. The coefficient
of asymmetry was 14%-23% in the parietal-occipital sections
and 16%-21% in the premotor sections. A similar picture w a s
characteristic for a lateral presentation of visual stimulation.
Thus, in patients with frontal lesions, structurally different
disorders were noted in the changes in E P parameters depend-
ing on whether attention was involuntary o r voluntary o r where
the stimuli were applied in the visual field. The nonrespon-
siveness of EP parameters to attraction of attention to stimuli
w a s especially conspicuous in patients with lesions in the
 66 L. D. Demina

medial and basal frontal structures. If, on the other hand, the
lesion w a s in the convex sections of the frontal lobes o r if it
generally did not affect mediobasal structures, a brief resto -
ration of normal EP patterns was observed. But this effect
was very brief and showed up only as a faint, unsteady, and late
activation and in a paradoxical phenomenon.
Completely different patterns of change in the parameters of
the late components of EPs were observed for patients with
lesions elsewhere than in the frontal lobes. In these patients
a situation of involuntary attention w a s also accompanied by
various abnormalities in the dynamic pattern of the EPs; how-
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ever, the introduction of voluntary activity mediated by speech

resulted in restoration of the dynamic pattern, the configura-
tion, and the interhemispheric asymmetry of the EPs.

Discussion

Our study showed that voluntary attention is mediated by a

-
special form of activation of cerebral structures local ac-
tivation, which is reflected in changes in the late EP param-
eters. Within the interval studied (80-100-550msec) heightened
voluntary attention changed predominantly waves with a latency
of about 190-360 msec.
In a situation of sensory attention, with the subject discrimi-
nating visual stimuli according to length, the maximal E P
changes were observed in the parietal-occipital sections of the
brain; and attraction of attention to movement caused similar
changes in the premotor section.
These findings indicate that different brain structures par -
ticipate in the accomplishment of tasks requiring different
kinds of voluntary attention. These notions concur with the
contemporary theory of the dynamic location of mental func-
tions according to which any of them (including attention) con-
stitutes a complex functional system based on joint activity of
specific cerebral substrates, each of which participates in its
own way in the realization of mental processes [ 7, 16,and
others].
 The Neurophysiology of Attention 67

A study of interhemispheric asymmetry in late E P waves

under conditions of central and lateral stimulation disclosed
some regular patterns in the relationships of E P s in the left
and right hemispheres under different s e t s of conditions. On
the whole, normal subjects showed a tendency f o r interhemi-
spheric asymmetry to increase in a situation of voluntary at -
tention compared with a situation of involuntary attention (with-
out any particular difference between the anterior and poste -
r i o r sections of the brain). In the case of binocular presenta-
tion of stimuli, the coefficient of asymmetry increased f r o m
10.1% to 20% in the occipital-parietal sections and from 20%
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to 24% in the premotor sections when the subjects began to

perform the exercises.
Interhemispheric EP asymmetry w a s considerably greater
in the case of lateral visual stimulation than in the case of
central stimulation. The presentation of neutral stimuli was
accompanied by a quite considerable interhemispheric EP
asymmetry (43%), and motor stimuli increased the coefficient
of asymmetry from 34% to 45% (in the case of double stimula-
tion of the left hemisphere) and from 30.9% to 41% (in the case
of double stimulation of the right hemisphere). With c r o s s
stimulation EP asymmetry between the left and right hemi-
spheres decreased, but w a s maintained mainly on account of
the higher values for EP parameters in the hemisphere con-
trolling the active hand of the subject.
When the pathological process had not touched the medio-
basal structures and E P s were nonresponsive in a situation of
voluntary attention, the greatest changes in late E P components
were recorded in the right hemisphere in the occipital-parietal
sections, indicating a connection between the parietal-occipital
sections of the right hemisphere and the processing of non-
verbal information in the resolution of visual -spatial prob-
lems [ 10, 19, 26, 31, and others].
In a situation of motor attention, the greatest changes in E P s
were noted in the premotor sections of the left hemisphere,
which is explained by the relationship of these sections of the
brain to the regulation of voluntary movements [ 7, 161.
 68 L. D. Demina

Regional changes in E P components as the subjects per-

formed the assigned exercises can be interpreted a s signs
of local enhancement of the functional state of the cerebral
structures participating in the performance of these tasks.
A comparison of the characteristics of regulation of E P
parameters in a situation of voluntary attention with the
clinical pathological picture showed that the mediobasal
sections of the frontal lobe constituted the critical link in
the regulation of local forms of activity accompanying dif -
ferent forms of attention. When these sections of the frontal
lobes a r e damaged, a generalized nonresponsiveness of late
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E P components was observed, no matter what test was be-

ing performed and no matter how the visual stimuli were
presented.
When the pathological process did not touch the mediobasal
structures, E P nonresponsiveness in a situation of voluntary
attention showed up locally, mainly in the premotor sections
in the form of diminished, unsteady, late activation and para-
doxical depression of EPs.
The varying nature of abnormalities in the regulation of ac-
tivation processes accompanying voluntary forms of attention
in patients with frontal lobe brain damage indicates that volun-
tary and selective forms of mental processes are morpho-
functionally differentiated within the frontal lobes [ 1, 7, 12, 161.

Conclusions

1. The attraction of different kinds of voluntary attention to

stimuli results in an enhancement of local activity of brain
structures that depends on the nature of the activity being c a r -
ried out; this is reflected in changes in late E P components.
2. Interhemispheric EP asymmetry is greater when stimuli
a r e presented to the side of the field of vision than when they
a r e presented to the center of it. With the subject performing
a sensory test, the maximum EP changes were observed in the
parietal-occipital sections of the right hemisphere; when motor
 The Neurophysiology of Attention 69

tasks were performed, the greatest E P changes were in the

premotor sections of the left hemisphere. Interhemispheric
E P asymmetry was most prominent in the case of dual stimu-
lation. In a situation of cross -stimulation, interhemispheric
asymmetry was maintained mainly in the anterior sections of
the brain and depended on which of the subject's hands was
active.
3. The frontal lobes have a direct bearing on the regulation
of local forms of activation underlying voluntary attention. E P
parameters a r e most impaired by lesions in the medial and
basal sections of the frontal lobes (generalized nonresponsive -
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ness of E P s no matter what s o r t of exercise is being performed

and no matter where the visual stimulation is applied). For
other sites of damage in the frontal lobe, disorders in the regu-
lation of activation processes show up locally, mainly in the
anterior sections of the brain.

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