It has long been known that a set of neuromodulatory nuclei located in the brainstem and the forebrain known as the ascending arousal system has a profound impact on brain function. Yet, due to the many hurdles that impede our ability to study this system in humans we still have much to learn about the precise role the nuclei that comprise it play in human cognitive processing and in shaping the brain’s functional network architecture. Non-invasive methods such as pupillometry, have allowed a growing number of human-subject researchers to study the modulatory influence of nuclei, like the locus coeruleus, on cognitive processes, especially those involved in cognitive control. Additionally, in the neuroimaging field, more attention is being paid to how neuromodulation might influence the functional coupling between and within functional brain networks. Finally, the role of the ascending arousal system and functional brain networks in several cognitive disorders is becoming more apparent. These research streams would benefit from greater cross-pollination and have the potential to significantly advance our understanding of human cognition and brain function.

This Research Topic aims to publish experimental, correlational, theoretical, and modeling research that both expands and better integrates our understanding of how the set of neuromodulatory systems collectively known as the ascending arousal system influence human cognitive processes and the functional brain networks that act as substrates of these processes. Auxiliary aims of this Research Topic include showing how new insights on the relationship between the ascending arousal system’s neuromodulatory nuclei and functional brain networks may help explain individual differences in cognition, differences in cognitive functioning between clinical populations and neurotypicals, different states of consciousness, and within subject variability in performance.

The scope of this Research Topic includes human-subject and animal research in so far as there are direct and explicit implications to better understanding human cognition. Areas covered by this Research Topic include but are not limited to the following:

• Pupillometry research testing theories of the role played by ascending arousal system in cognitive functioning

• Computational models of ascending arousal system modulation of functional brain networks

• Studies employing neuroimaging techniques (electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging, functional near infrared spectroscopy, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, magnetoencephalography, etc…) in combination with other methods (e.g., pupillometry, pharmacological manipulations, etc…) to examine the impact of brainstem neuromodulatory systems on cognition

• Theoretical accounts of the ascending arousal system’s role in neuropsychiatric illness inspired by nonhuman animal research

• Studies comparing the ascending arousal system function of neurotypicals and clinical populations

• Reviews outlining what is currently known about the role of the firing dynamics of ascending arousal system nuclei in cognitive performance

• General theories regarding the function of a specific brainstem nucleus

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Frontiers in Cognition

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