Prefrontal cortex attentional processing

Brain glucose utilization decreases when alertness and cognitive performance are impaired by sleep deprivation, especially in the prefrontal cortex, a region involved in alertness, attention, and higher order cognitive processes and in the thalamus, a subcortical structure involved in alertness and attention. 

The mesocortical pathway connects the ventral tegmental area of the midbrain with the prefrontal cortex which involves the regulation of several cognitive processes such as selective attention and working memory. 

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