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Author(s): Grossberg, S. |
Year: 2005
Citation: Neurobiology of attention, pp. 652-662
Abstract: The concept of attention has been used in many senses, often without clarifying how or why attention works as it does. Attention, like consciousness, is often described in a disembodied way. The present article summarizes neural models and supportive data about how attention is linked to processes of learning, expectation, competition, and consciousness. A key theme is that attention modulates cortical self-organization and stability. The perceptual and cognitive neocortex is organized into six main cell layers, with characteristic sublamina. Attention is part of a unified design of bottom-up, horizontal, and top-down interactions among identified cells in laminar cortical circuits. Neural models clarify how attention may be allocated during processes of visual perception, learning, and search; auditory streaming and speech perception; movement target selection during sensory-motor control; mental imagery and fantasy; and hallucinations uring mental disorders, among other processes.
Topics:
Biological Learning,
