Acetylcholine and attention

Our proposed studies will examine the role of a particular neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, in selective attention and behavioral arousal. This transmitter is important because it is impaired in patients with Alzheimers' disease, and other dementias. Many of the problems these patients have with memory may be largely due to an inability to focus their attention. Our experiments will look at the way in which the brain controls attention for different senses, for example, "hearing" vs. "seeing". We will use anatomical, biochemical, and behavioral techniques to determine whether this transmitter can be controlled in a manner that is consistent with these ideas of attention, or whether it simply increases the arousal of all parts of the cerebral cortex.