Cholinergic modulation of cortical function.

Extensive physiological research has demonstrated a number of common effects of acetylcholine within cortical structures, including the hippocampus, piriform cortex, and neocortex (Hasselmo, 1995, 1999). This article will provide a description of how the different physiological effects of acetylcholine could interact to alter specific functional properties of the cortex. The physiological effects of acetylcholine serve to enhance the influence of feed- forward afferent input to the cortex while decreasing background activity by suppressing excitatory feedback connections within cortical circuits. By enhancing the response to sensory input, high levels of acetylcholine enhance attention to sensory stimuli in the environment and enhance encoding of memory for specific stimuli. Interference from prior memory is reduced by suppressing synapses modified by prior learning (Sevilla et al., 2002; Linster et al., 2003).