A neurocognitive approach to the study of attention deficits in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia has been associated with deficits in several cognitive proces ses but mainly with attention deficits. From a neurocognitive approach, att ention has been conceptualized as a set of neural networks involved in the control of information processing. Two such networks have been described in visual attention: (1) the posterior attentional network, involved in visua l orientation of attention, localized in posterior areas of the brain; and (2) the anterior attentional network, involved in executive functions mainl y in attention to high level processing, such as semantic processing, local ized in anterior areas of the brain. The neurocognitive studies of schizoph renia revised here suggest that the main attentional deficits associated wi th schizophrenia involve inhibitory processing of the anterior attentional network that takes place in the left hemisphere.