The role of locus coeruleus in the regulation of cognitive performance

Marius Usher, Jonathan D. Cohen, David Servan-Schreiber, Janusz Rajkowski, Gary Aston-Jones*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

580 Scopus citations

Abstract

Noradrenergic locus coeruleus (LC) neurons were recorded in monkeys performing a visual discrimination task, and a computational model was developed addressing the role of the LC brain system in cognitive performance. Changes in spontaneous and stimulus-induced patterns of LC activity correlated closely with fluctuations in behavioral performance. The model explains these fluctuations in terms of changes in electrotonic coupling among LC neurons and predicts improved performance during epochs of high coupling and synchronized LC firing. Cross correlations of simultaneously recorded LC neurons confirmed this prediction, indicating that electronic coupling in LC may play an important role in attentional modulation and the regulation of goal-directed versus exploratory behaviors.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)549-554
Number of pages6
JournalScience
Volume283
Issue number5401
DOIs
StatePublished - 22 Jan 1999

Funding

FundersFunder number
National Institute of Mental HealthP01MH047566

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