Fig. 1.

Frontostriatal circuit mechanisms supporting sustained attention. Shown are the effects of muscimol (75 ng/hemisphere) inactivation of the dmPFC (dorsal anterior cingulate/dorsal prelimbic PFC), dmSTR, or vmSTR on performance in a sustained attention task. Bars represent mean change in d′ from vehicle treatment ± SEM. Performance was impaired, as measured by a change in d′ sensitivity compared to vehicle, with inactivation of all three regions. For the dmPFC and dmSTR, this resulted in nearly chance levels of performance (see Table I). In contrast, vmSTR inactivation produced a more profound impairment that largely reflects the fact that animals ceased performing the task following a series of errors. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 compared to vehicle treatment