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ACTUALIZACION POR TEMAS La atencién selectiva I: teorias, estructuras cerebrales, y mecanismos neuroquimicos implicados Sergio Meneses Ortega* ‘Simén Brailowsky Klipstein™ ‘Summary In order that the central nervous system (CNS) processes. the baggage of sensory information fo which itis constantly ‘exposed 2 selection of the information must be made. The brain processes that make this possible is called selective In this review, we describe the distinct stages involved in the evolution of dur concept of selective attention. intially, for ‘some time, this concept was ignored. This oblivion was due, in pan, to the dominant influence of behavioral psychology ‘The description in 1949 of the arousal reaction produced by lectrical stimulation of the relicular formation of the brain stem changed this appraisal. And more recently, with the advent of techniques allowing higher temporal and spall levant signals must be excluded from the analysis in order to ‘attend to the meaningful messages. Information processing theories attribute a different location in the CNS, where the ‘main selection of information takes place. Some theories ‘emphasize the very fine sensory relays as being the most Important in the process of selecting relevant information Other thoories suggest that during the processing of information, different types of associations are established ‘according to a specific hierarchy. In this manner, selection Tevels, {formation takes place, various schools of thought have evol- ‘ved. There are advocates of the localizationism, globalism or antlocalizationism, while others suggest the existence of a funcional hierarchy ora link between distributed systems. The latter derives trom Hebb's concept of neuronal assemblies, “which eventually was incorporated in Mountcaste's definition ‘of medules of information processing Using imaging techniques in patients with localized lesions, ‘or in animal models, it as been possible to determine brain rogions participating in attentional processes. Regions with im- = Fscutad de Pstcologia, UNAM e Instituto de Neuroclencias. Univer. siied de Guadalajara. Calle Del ayo 261, Col. Jardines de! Bosauo ‘4820, Guadaiajra, Jal * Instituto de Fisiologia Coluler. Departamento de Neurociencas, Uni- versidag Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 04610 Mesico, DF. portant interconnectvity withthe brain stem, diencephalon and pathways Suggested that cognitive functions are constituted by en- Ssenibles of elementary operations occurring at defined brain levels. 1h order to determine neurochemical mechanisms involved Containing these molecules display variations in the levels of activation associated with various levels of arousal, or with the application of sensory stimul. Thus, the locus coorvieus, a noradrenergic nucleus with widespread projections to the ‘cerebral cortex, has been associated with changes in cortical “signal-to-noise” rato allowing the solection of relevant stimuli ‘among many signals from the background. Moreover, @ ‘lationship has been established between catecholaminergic systems and pathology. In addition, tls possible to induce attentional deficits lesioning these systems. In the second part of this review we will describe elec- trophysiological correlates of selective attention. We wi address studies using recordings of evoked potentias, unitary ‘activity and otoacustic response, and wil refer to the most {frequent attentional alterations im man: hemi-inattention, learning disabilties, and epileptic absences. Resumen Para que ol sistema nervioso central (SNC) pueda proce- ‘sar la gran cantidad de informacion sensorial a la cual esta ‘Duestoconstantemente, debe efectuarse una seleccion de Informacion. Los procesos cerebrales que hacen posible ‘selaccin se conocen come afencian selectiva, ‘En esta revision describimes las distintas etapas por las ‘que ha transcurrido el concepto de atencién selectiva.Inicial- mente, este concepto fue ignorado duranie algun tiempo Este ‘lvido se debid, en parte, a Ia influencia dominante del andii- sis experimental de la conducta. Esta situacion cambi6 con la deseripcion, en 1949, de la reaccion de alertamiento pro- ‘ducida por la estimulacién eléctrica de la formactén reticular del tallo cerebral. Recienternente, con la legada de técnicas ‘que permiten evaluar el funcionamiento del sistema nervioso ‘con una alta resolucion temporal y espacial el estudio detas funciones cerebrales, en general, yde los procesos cognos- citivos, en particular, ha cobrado un nuevo impulso. Con base on las teorias del procesamiento de informacién, ‘sehan propuesto varios modelos para explicar como se.efec- Salucl Mental V. 18, No. 3, septiembre do 1995 tua la seleccién teorlas del“. {to" proponen que las sefales irelevantes deben ser exclu das del andlisis con el fin de atender los mensajes de interés. Estas teorias cifteren en el nivel del SNG, en el que ocurre a seleccion de Ia informacion. En un caso se propone que la se- leceion de informacion importante ocutre en los primeros re- levos de la via sensorial. Otras teorlas sugieren que durante el procesamento de informacién se establecen diferentes t- jerdo con una jerarquia especif- ‘cabo en dite- ‘Se han dasarrollado varias lineas de pensamiento que bus- can el sito en el cual ocurre la seleccién de informacion. Hay Sefensores de las teorias lecalizacionistas, globalistas 0 antilocaizacionistas, mientras que otros propanen {a existen- {ia de una jerarquia funcional o de sistomas distibuidos. Esta ‘ima idea deriva del concepto de ensamble neuronal pro- puesto por Hebb, el cual fue incorperado en la definicion de Mountcastie de los médulos de procesamiento de informa: len Empleando técnicas de imagenologia en pacientes con le- siones localizadas o en modelos animales, ha sido posible

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