Professor, Cognitive Sciences
School of Social Sciences

Apical dendrites of pyramidal neurons, attention

Instructor to Assistant Professor, Indiana University (1955-58)
Associate Professor to Full Professor, University of Minnesota 1958-1980)
Professor, University of California, Irvine (1981-1997)
Faculty in Biology and Psychology, Simon’s Rock College of Bard (1997-2007)
Visiting Scholar, University of Washington, Seattle, 2009-2011.

A series of papers explored the hypothesis that the apical dendrite is not “just another dendrite” but has its own special functions (2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007). A formal description of a theory of electric resonance in apical dendrites appeared in an article by Kasevich & LaBerge (2011), which shows how an apical dendrite can fine tune its own membrane oscillations to a specific peak frequency, and narrow the width of the resonance curve around this peak to less than 1 Hz. This refinement enables its associated cortical circuit to generate a specific resonant (“carrier”) frequency by which the circuit can separate its signaling from that of other circuits. A more recent article (LaBerge & Kasevich, 2013) describes signaling by neurons as the neural correlate of objective information processing and resonating in clusters of apical dendrites as the neural correlate of subjective impressions (e.g., impressions of sounds, colors, and feelings). These articles provide theoretical support for the hypothesis that apical dendrite resonance supplements neural signaling as a major mode of neural function.

(Selected Publications)

(1) LaBerge, D. (1959) Effect of preliminary trials on rate of conditioning in a simple prediction situation. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 57: 20-24.

(2) LaBerge, D. (1959) A model with neutral elements. In R.R. Bush & W.K. Estes (Eds.), Studies in Mathematical Learning Theory. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

(3) LaBerge, D. (1962) A recruitment theory of simple behavior. Psychometrika, 27:375-396.

(4) LaBerge, D. & Tweedy, J.R. (1964) Presentation probability and choice time. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 68: 477-481.

(5) LaBerge, D. Tweedy, J.R., & Ricker, J. (1967) Selective attention: Incentive variables and choice time. Psychonomic Science, 8: 341-342.

(6) LaBerge, D., Legrand, R., & Hobbie, R.K. (1969) Function identification of perceptual and response biases in choice reaction time. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 79: 295-299.

(7) LaBerge, D., Van Gelder, P., & Yellott, J. (1970) A cueing technique in choice reaction time. Perception and Psychophysics, 7: 57-62.

(8) LaBerge, D. (1971) On the processing of simple visual and auditory stimuli at distinct levels. Perception and Psychophysics, 9: 331-334.

(9) LaBerge, D. (1973) Identification of the time to switch attention: A test of a serial and a parallel model of attention. In S. Kornblum (Ed.), Attention & Performance IV, New York: Academic Press, 1975.

(10) LaBerge, D. (1973) Attention and the measurement of perceptual learning. Memory and Cognition, 1: 268-276.

(11) LaBerge, D. & Samuels, S.J. (1974) Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6: 293-323.

(12) LaBerge, D. (1975) Acquisition of automatic processing of perceptual learning. In P. M. A. Rabbitt & S. Dornic (Eds.), Attention & Performance V, New York: Academic Press, pp 50-64.

(13) LaBerge, D. & Samuels, S.J. (1977) Basic Processes in Reading: Perception and Comprehension. Hillsdale, NY: Erlbaum Associates.

(14) LaBerge, D. (1983) The spatial extent of attention to letters and words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 9: 371-379.

(15) LaBerge, D. & Brown, V. (1986) Variations in size of the visual field in which targets are presented: An attentional range effect. Perception and Psychophysics, 40:188-200.

(16) LaBerge, D. & Brown, V. (1989) Theory of attentional operations in shape identification. Psychological Review, 96: 101-124.

(17) LaBerge, D. & Buchsbaum, M.S. (1990) Positron emission tomographic measurements of pulvinar activity during an attention task. Journal of Neuroscience, 10: 613-619.

(18) LaBerge, D. (1990) Attention. Psychological Science, 1, 156-162.

(19) LaBerge, D. (1990) Thalamic and cortical mechanisms of attention suggested by recent positron tomographic experiments. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2: 358-372.

(20) LaBerge, D., Brown, V., Carter, M., Bash, D., & Hartley, A. (1991) Reducing the effects of adjacent distracters by narrowing attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 17: 65-76.

(21) LaBerge, D., Carter, M., & Brown, V. (1992) A network simulation of thalamic circuit operations in selective attention. Neural Computation, 4: 318-331.

(22) LaBerge, D. (1992) A mathematical theory of attention in a distractor task. In Healy, A.F., Kosslyn, S M., & Shiffrin, R.M. From Learning Theory to Connectionist Theory: Essays in Honor of William K. Estes, Vol. 1, 115-132. Hillsdale, NY: Erlbaum.

(23) LaBerge, D. (1994) Quantitative models of attention and response processes in \shape identification tasks. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 38: 198-243.

(24) LaBerge, D. (1995) Attentional processing in music listening: A cognitive neuroscience approach. Psychomusicology, 14: 20-34.

(25) LaBerge, D. (1995). Attentional Processing: The Brain’s Art of Mindfulness. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

(26) LaBerge, D., Carlson, R.L., Williams, J.K., & Bunney, B. (1997) Shifting attention in space: Tests of moving spotlight models vs an activity-distribution model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. 23:1380-1392.

(27) LaBerge, D. (1997) Attention, awareness, and the triangular circuit. Consciousness and Cognition, 6: 149-181.

(28) LaBerge, D. (1998) Attention as the intensification of cortical activity. Revue de Neuropsychologie, 8: 54-58.

(29) LaBerge, D. (1998) Defining awareness by the triangular circuit of attention. Psyche: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Consciousness, Vol. 4, No.7, http://psyche.cs.monash.edu, pp 1-8.

(30) LaBerge, D., Auclair, L., & Sieroff, E. (2000) Preparatory attention: Experiment and theory. Consciousness and Cognition, 9: 396-434.

(31) LaBerge, D. (2000) Clarifying the triangular circuit of attention and its relation to awareness: Replies to seven commentaries of ”Defining awareness by the triangular circuit of attention.” Psyche: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Consciousness, Vol. 4, http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.

(32) LaBerge, D. (2001) Attention, consciousness, and electrical wave activity within the cortical column. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 43: 5-24.

(33) LaBerge, D. (2002) Attentional control: Brief and prolonged. Psychological Research, 66: 220-233.

(34) Sieroff, E., Piquard, A., Auclair, L., Lacomblez, I, Derouesne, C., & LaBerge, D. (2004) Deficit of preparatory attention in fronto-temporal dementia. Brain and Cognition, 5: 444-451.

(35) Auclair, L., Jambaque, I., Dulac, O., and LaBerge, D. (2005). Deficit of preparatory attention in children with frontal lobe epilepsy. Neuropsychologia, 43, 1701-1712.

(36) LaBerge, D. (2005). Sustained attention and apical dendrite activity in recurrent circuits. Brain Research Reviews, 50, 86-99.

(37) LaBerge, D. (2006). Apical dendrite activity in cognition and consciousness. Consciousness & Cognition, 15, 235-257.

(38) LaBerge, D. & Kasevich, R.S. (2007). The apical dendrite theory of consciousness. Neural Networks, 20, 1004-1020.

(39) Kasevich, R.S., and LaBerge, D. (2011). Theory of electric resonance in the neocortical apical dendrite. PLoS ONE , 6(8): e23412.

(40) LaBerge, D., & Kasevich, R. (2013). The cognitive significance of resonating neurons in the cerebral cortex. Consciousness and Cognition, 22, 1523-1550.

(73 total publications)

Fellow, AAAS

Fellow, Society of Experimental Psychologists

Fellow, American Psychological Society

Fellow, American Psychological Association

Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=2528

Last updated
06/02/2015