Event-related potentials recorded from the cingulate gyrus during attentional tasks: a study in patients with implanted electrodes.

Recent neuroimaging data suggests that the cingulate gyrus is involved in a variety of cognitive tasks. In this study sensory field potentials were directly recorded from the cingulate gyrus in order to investigate its implication in attentional processes associated or not with a motor task. Evoked potentials recordings were performed in 29 epileptic patients with multilead electrodes implanted for presurgical evaluation, who agreed to participate in an experimental protocol consisting of a series of paradigms designed using a warning auditory tone, two distinct visual patterns and various attentional, memory, motor and decisional tasks. Our data shows that evoked potentials could be recorded from various parts of the cingulate gyrus. The inclusion of an instruction in the experimental paradigm resulted in an increase in the amplitude of the late, intrinsic component of the visual evoked potential culminating at about 450 ms. Several variations of response patterns across individuals were identified. We conclude that the cingulate gyrus appears to be a multimodal area involved in several types of cognitive activity, including attention. Variations in response patterns are probably related to differences in the strategy adopted by each subject when faced with a particular cognitive task.