Work

Control from below: the role of a midbrain network in spatial attention

Year: 2011

Type: review

Abstract: Spatial attention enables the brain to analyse and evaluate information selectively from a specific location in space, a capacity essential for any animal to behave adaptively in a complex world. We usually think of spatial attention as being controlled by a frontoparietal network in the forebrain. However, emerging evidence shows that a midbrain network also plays a critical role in controlling spatial attention. Moreover, the highly differentiated, retinotopic organization of the midbrain network, especially in birds, makes it amenable to detailed analysis with modern techniques that can elucidate circuit, cellular and synaptic mechanisms of attention. The following review discusses the role of the midbrain network in controlling attention, the neural circuits that support this role and current knowledge about the computations performed by these circuits.

Source: European Journal of Neuroscience

DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2011.07696.x

Author: Eric I. Knudsen

Institutions: Stanford Medicine, Stanford University

Language: English

Topic: Visual perception and processing mechanisms

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, Goddard Space Flight Center, National Eye Institute

Award: Neural Mechanisms of Visual and Auditory Stimulus Selection