Increasingly, it is evident that the striatum itself mediates cognitive functions.
Previous analyses investigated relatively global measures of brain volume changes, and possibly these changes were relatively restricted to regions mediating cognitive functions other than those tested in the trial.
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) mediates cognitive function that is sensitive to disruption by sleep loss, and molecular mechanisms regulating neural dysfunction induced by chronic sleep restriction (CSR), particularly in the PFC, have yet to be completely understood.
Nevertheless, evidence suggests that particular neural networks are more strongly implicated in mediating certain cognitive functions than others, which gives validity to approaching the discussion in this manner.
The frontostriatal network mediates those cognitive functions that are needed to optimize performance in complex tasks and that include a number of psychological processes.
Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) bind nicotinic ligands with high affinity (11), are widely located throughout the central nervous system (12), and play an important role in mediating higher cognitive functions dependent on cholinergic transmission (13).
As well as playing an important role in spatial navigation, theta oscillations are believed to co-ordinate the activity of the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (PFC) to mediate effective cognitive function [Colgin, 2011; Fujisawa and Buzsaki, 2011].
A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the patient revealed substantial damage to the right frontal lobe of his brain, which mediates many higher cognitive functions, including abstract thought.
The basal ganglia are a collection of subcortical nuclei (caudate, putamen, globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus, and substantia nigra) that are involved in circuits mediating movement, higher cognitive functions, attention, and affective states.
