# Scientists found ancient brain cells that help the mind ignore distractions

> Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have identified a set of ancient brainstem neurons that helps mice focus on important visual information while suppressing distractions. The discovery, reported in Nature Communications, points to a deep brain circuit that may shape attention across vertebrates,...

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Byline: Johns Hopkins University
Published: 2026-07-11T16:30:14+00:00
Categories: Health, News

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Researchers at [Johns Hopkins University](https://hub.jhu.edu/2026/06/22/scientists-discover-ancient-neurons-that-control-attention/) have identified a set of ancient brainstem neurons that helps mice focus on important visual information while suppressing distractions. The discovery, reported in Nature Communications, points to a deep brain circuit that may shape attention across vertebrates, including humans.

The finding gives scientists a fresh way to think about selective attention. Every brain has to choose what deserves priority. A person may need to follow one voice in a crowded room. An animal may need to spot food while ignoring movement in the background. The Johns Hopkins team found that this filtering ability depends on neurons in a brain region with very old evolutionary roots.

The work was done in **mice**, so its meaning for people remains an open scientific question. Still, the results are striking because the same brain region exists across vertebrates. That makes the circuit a strong candidate for future studies of attention disorders.

## An ancient circuit for focus

Attention research has often centered on the prefrontal cortex. That region is especially developed in humans and other primates. Yet many animals with less developed prefrontal cortexes can still aim their attention with impressive precision.

The Johns Hopkins team looked deeper in the brain. Their focus landed on a group of inhibitory neurons in the **brainstem**, an older region involved in essential functions and sensory control. These neurons are part of a system shared widely across vertebrate animals.

Lead author **Ninad Kothari**, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, framed the puzzle in evolutionary terms. "We were able to identify an evolutionarily old region in the brainstem which affords this ability," Kothari said.

That older circuitry matters because attention evolved long before modern human brains appeared. Birds, fish, frogs, turtles and mammals all face the same basic problem. They must select one location or signal while other stimuli compete for the same neural space.

The neurons identified by the team appear to help solve that problem through suppression. They quiet the influence of less important stimuli so the brain can give priority to the information that matters most at a given moment.

## How mice revealed the brain's filter

To test the neurons, the researchers designed an attention task for mice. The setup resembled tasks used in human attention studies. The animals watched visual cues on a screen and earned rewards when they responded correctly to the most important cue.

The key challenge involved distraction. A relevant signal appeared in front of the mouse, while competing cues appeared off to the side. The animal had to focus on the central information and ignore signals that could pull attention away.

Under normal conditions, the mice learned to do this successfully. That showed the animals could use **selective spatial attention**, the ability to prioritize one region of space over another. This same general capacity helps people find a friend in a crowd or keep reading while something moves nearby.

The researchers then temporarily switched off the brainstem neurons. This allowed them to test whether the cells were necessary for the task. The change had a sharp effect on performance.

"When we inactivate these neurons, the mice become hyper distractable," Kothari said. The animals became more likely to react to distracting cues, even when those cues should have been ignored.

## What changed when the neurons went quiet

The team checked whether the mice were failing for simpler reasons. If the animals could no longer see the cues, the result would say little about attention. If they had movement problems, the task would also become hard for reasons unrelated to focus.

Additional experiments ruled out those explanations. The mice could still see. They could still move. Their specific problem was choosing between competing pieces of visual information.

That distinction is central to the discovery. The neurons seemed to control how strongly distractions could influence the animal. When the cells were active, the mice could stay locked on the most relevant location. When the cells were silenced, weaker distractions gained power over behavior.

Senior author **Shreesh Mysore**, a neuroscientist who studies neural circuits tied to behavior, described the circuit in direct terms. "This part of the brain is like an attentional selection engine," Mysore said.

The phrase captures the role of the cells without making the brain sound simple. The neurons appear to help rank competing signals. They let the animal act on the most important information at the right time.

## Why this matters for ADHD research

The study also connects to a major question in health research. Attention disorders often involve difficulty filtering distractions. In **ADHD**, small competing stimuli can become hard to ignore.

Mysore drew that link from the mouse experiments. "A hallmark of ADHD is that even faint distractors draw attention away," he said. In the study, a similar distractibility appeared when the researchers silenced the brainstem neurons.

The comparison should be treated carefully. The experiments were performed in mice and ADHD is a complex human condition. Many brain systems contribute to attention, behavior, motivation and learning. The Johns Hopkins work identifies one circuit that may be important for future investigation.

Still, the finding could help researchers search for more precise treatments. Current approaches to attention disorders can affect broad brain systems. A better map of the circuits that control distraction may eventually guide therapies toward specific mechanisms.

The same caution applies to autism, which the researchers also discussed in relation to selective attention. Difficulties with sorting competing information can appear in several conditions. Future studies will need to test whether these ancient neurons behave differently in people with attention-related diagnoses.

## The next question is humans

The most important next step is to learn whether the same type of circuit shapes human attention. The brainstem region exists in humans and the neurons appear to belong to a broader vertebrate system. Their exact role in people still needs direct study.

Mysore said the evidence so far points to an intriguing possibility. "All the evidence to date suggests that these neurons exist in humans too," he said. He added that their role in human selective attention remains an exciting hypothesis.

Future work may examine the activity of these neurons during attention tasks. Researchers may also compare how the circuit behaves in people with ADHD or autism. Such studies could help clarify whether the cells are a common filter for distraction across species.

The Nature Communications paper was selected as an editorial highlight. The study authors include Kothari, Arunima Banerjee, Qingcheng Zhang, Wen-Kai You and Mysore of **Johns Hopkins University**.

For now, the discovery offers a surprising view of focus. The ability to ignore distractions may depend partly on an ancient neural system buried deep in the brain. That system likely helped animals survive long before complex human thought emerged.