Attention to action.

Journal article

The paper considers the question of why subjects are poor at performing two tasks simultaneously if both require attention. It is shown using positron emission tomography (PET) that during new learning of a motor sequence task the prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex are extensively activated, but that they are no longer activated when a motor sequence has been practiced for an hour until it is automatic. It is also shown that early in motor learning there is interference if subjects are ...

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Authors: Passingham, R

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
• Volume: 351
• Issue: 1346
• Pages: 1473-1479
• Publication date: 1996-10-01
• DOI: 10.1098/rstb.1996.0132
• EISSN: 1471-2970
• ISSN: 0962-8436
• Language: English
• Keywords: Learning; Frontal Lobe; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Prefrontal Cortex; Cerebrovascular Circulation; Task Performance and Analysis; Attention; Humans; Tomography, Emission-Computed; Motor Skills; Automatism