VOLUME LXX | OCT 2022

A role for the claustrum in cognitive control

Imagine the claustrum as a conductor of an intricate symphony, guiding and coordinating all the different sections to create a harmonious musical experience. Early theories about the claustrum’s role were like scattered notes, with each suggesting a different function – from detecting important information to combining sensory inputs. However, as more research emerged, it became clear that these theories didn’t quite fit together. Now, scientists have unveiled a groundbreaking model called network instantiation in cognitive control (NICC), which integrates these diverse ideas. Think of NICC as a conductor who not only brings together individual musicians but also directs their movements and timing to achieve a flawless performance. This new model allows us to better understand how the claustrum influences various cognitive processes like decision making and attention. To dive into the fascinating world of claustrum research and explore this exciting breakthrough, check out the full article!

Margaret Campbell

Margaret is a Scottish-Canadian educator and bioethicist from Alberta, focusing on ethical considerations in human enhancement technologies. She authors pieces on balancing ambition with moral integrity, rooted in her clan's emphasis on community and perseverance.

Early hypotheses of claustrum function were fueled by neuroanatomical data and yielded suggestions that the claustrum is involved in processes ranging from salience detection to multisensory integration for perceptual binding. While these hypotheses spurred useful investigations, incompatibilities inherent in these views must be reconciled to further conceptualize claustrum function amid a wealth of new data. Here, we review the varied models of claustrum function and synthesize them with developments in the field to produce a novel functional model: network instantiation in cognitive control (NICC).
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