Cellular and Circuit Consequences of a Genetic Locus for Attention

Zachary Gershon

OAI: oai:digitalcommons.rockefeller.edu:student_theses_and_dissertations-1779

Animals are constantly bombarded by any number of sensory inputs but have a limited capacity with which to process them. A mechanism for filtering, prioritizing, and directing mental assets is required to prevent sensory overload, enable meaningful comprehension, and allow for further action. Attention is the process of directing cognitive resources toward specific stimuli, which can be dispensed in a top-down manner to carry out higher-order cognitive functions. However, despite extensive and careful study at the molecular, cellular, and, circuit scales, unifying principles have been challenging to elicit.

Life Sciences