When performing a task and a distraction appears, the brain is able to suppress the incoming information to focus on the original mission.
- The anterior lateral motor cortex of the brain is the part of the brain capable of working through distractions to stay focused.
- If the brain finds the distraction more interesting than the task it is performing, it can alter the degree to which it allows this distracting information to override the original information.
Concentrating on a task without being disturbed is often a difficult exercise. To help us, our brain uses processes to ignore distractions. In an article published on April 19 in the journal Nature NeuroscienceAmerican researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have described the brain mechanisms involved in the retention of short-term memory when distractions occur.
The technique of optogenetics
In recent years, scientists have discovered new parts of the brain involved in locomotor activities. In particular, they identified the anterior lateral motor cortex as a key player when the brain engages in planning an activity. In this study, the researchers wanted to go further and wondered how the brain reacts to distractions when it is engaged in this activity planning.
To answer this question, the researchers conducted several experiments on laboratory mice, which offer a functioning model similar to that of humans. They used the technique of optogenetics, which makes it possible to turn on and off populations of genetically modified neurons to study the functioning of neuronal circuits thanks to light. In this study, they focused on the vibrissal of the somatosensory cortex and more specifically on the part responsible for processing information from their whiskers. Before that, mice were trained to lick the right side of an object when these neurons are activated using the technique of optogenetics and to lick the left side in case of non-activation. Finally, they asked the mice to engage in a planning activity in which they must react to how they feel with their whiskers.
The more interesting the distractions, the more they take precedence
By activating the mice’s neurons during their planning activity, the researchers found that the timing of these distractions influences the brain’s response. If they happen early in the planning process, they have a much greater impact on the mouse’s ability to remember how it planned to run its business. For researchers, this indicates that the anterior lateral motor cortex may have an incoming information suppression capability to retain original planning information.
Separately, the researchers also noted that the mice may also find the distraction more interesting than the activities they had planned. If this happens, they will tend to alter the degree to which they allow distracting information to override the original planning information.
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