Mental health is a complex subject. Studies have hypothesized that the brain implements various controls by independently monitoring specific features and independently prioritizing some specific process. Researchers have discovered the brain mechanisms that help people decide whether they need to focus visual attention on an important task or a distraction.
The front part of the brain where the prefrontal cortex exists is responsible for motivation and rewards. A pattern of coordinated activity known as beta bursts in some neurons in the LPFC is the key to suppressing visual distractions to focus attention on a particular task. Researchers are trying to find the mechanisms that will help understand failures in a range of cognitive and psychiatric disorders which include attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder,
Some researchers say that even though all brains can focus on a rewarding task, this also varies from person to person. In animals researchers found strong evidence of LPFC neuros known as ‘ visual movement ‘ neurons which are able to direct attention towards their rewarding shape or the distracting one since the animals were already being visually distracted while completing a task.
The findings of this study can help doctors understand cognitive impairment and how some people can show tremendous cognitive flexibility to pay attention only when a human wants to . Researchers say that the study will help analyze limitation of that flexibility and how those might turn into ADHD.
When it is time to focus these visual movement neurons are observed to fire together at the same frequency which is known as ‘beta bursts’ helping models to ignore visual distractions to finish their task .
In the subjects where beta bursts occurred before being present with visual distractions , they were more likely to ignore them than those in whom beta bursts are weak or absent . It can be concluded that beta bursts occur in a network of visual movement neurons and can act as a traffic directors for neurons which process different visual stimuli . The research suggests that rewarding tasks require a lot of energy and can be improved for individuals with attention deficit. It is fascinating to know that humans and animals have ‘top down’ control which helps them give their undivided attention to any task that has a higher reward goal.
Some researchers say that when people talk about the limitations of mind it can be found that humans in general lack mental capacity and lack computing power. The findings support the fact that a human brain is not focused all the time . and our brains in general are simple but the coordination is harder. Further research is being conducted into how motivations help drive attention. A slight overview into one study says that financial rewards and penalties are important for focus filters and strategies.
Journal Reference – Ritz, H., & Shenhav, A. (2024). Orthogonal neural encoding of targets and distractors supports multivariate cognitive control.
Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-01826-7
