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Visual attention.
Journal article

Visual attention.

  • Evans KK Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
  • Horowitz TS Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
  • Howe P Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
  • Pedersini R Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
  • Reijnen E Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
  • Pinto Y Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
  • Kuzmova Y Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
  • Wolfe JM Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
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  • 2015-08-25
Published in:
  • Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Cognitive science. - 2011
English A typical visual scene we encounter in everyday life is complex and filled with a huge amount of perceptual information. The term, 'visual attention' describes a set of mechanisms that limit some processing to a subset of incoming stimuli. Attentional mechanisms shape what we see and what we can act upon. They allow for concurrent selection of some (preferably, relevant) information and inhibition of other information. This selection permits the reduction of complexity and informational overload. Selection can be determined both by the 'bottom-up' saliency of information from the environment and by the 'top-down' state and goals of the perceiver. Attentional effects can take the form of modulating or enhancing the selected information. A central role for selective attention is to enable the 'binding' of selected information into unified and coherent representations of objects in the outside world. In the overview on visual attention presented here we review the mechanisms and consequences of selection and inhibition over space and time. We examine theoretical, behavioral and neurophysiologic work done on visual attention. We also discuss the relations between attention and other cognitive processes such as automaticity and awareness. WIREs Cogni Sci 2011 2 503-514 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.127 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
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https://sonar.ch/global/documents/290182
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