Banishing the shifty homunculus from frontal cortex: attentional set-shifting deficits re-examined
For many years in my lab, we have been studying attentional set, which can be described as attentional grouping based on a Gestalt principle of similarity. Animals first learn that certain features of multidimensional stimuli are relevant for finding reward and others are not. When they have to ‘shift attentional set’ to a previously irrelevant element, learning is less rapid.

The ability to shift attentional set has been called an ‘executive’ function and it is impaired in many psychiatric and neurological diseases, particularly those affecting the frontal lobes. Furthermore, treatments to improve executive deficits have remained elusive. This is why it is important to understand the nature of the impairments and their neural basis.

In this talk, I will present evidence, from rats and patients with schizophrenia, that supports the surprising conclusion that cognitive flexibility is not an executive function of the frontal lobes.
Date: 21 February 2017, 13:00 (Tuesday, 6th week, Hilary 2017)
Venue: Biology South Parks Road, South Parks Road OX1 3RB
Venue Details: Large Lecture Theatre, Department of Plant Sciences
Speaker: Professor Verity Brown (University of St Andrews)
Organising department: Department of Experimental Psychology
Organiser contact email address: martin.oneill@psy.ox.ac.uk
Host: Martin O'Neill (University of Oxford)
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editors: Darren Barber, Janice Young