Mechanisms of Visual Attention in the Human Cortex

Sabine Kastner and Leslie G. Ungerleider
2000 Annual Review of Neuroscience  
A typical scene contains many different objects that, because of the limited processing capacity of the visual system, compete for neural representation. The competition among multiple objects in visual cortex can be biased by both bottom-up sensory-driven mechanisms and top-down influences, such as selective attention. Functional brain imaging studies reveal that, both in the absence and in the presence of visual stimulation, biasing signals due to selective attention can modulate neural
more » ... ty in visual cortex in several ways. Although the competition among stimuli for representation is ultimately resolved within visual cortex, the source of top-down biasing signals derives from a network of areas in frontal and parietal cortex. 315 *The US government has the right to retain a nonexclusive, royalty-free license in and to any copyright covering this paper. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 2000.23:315-341. Downloaded from arjournals.annualreviews.org by INDIANA UNIVERSITY -Bloomington on 10/20/05. For personal use only. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 2000.23:315-341. Downloaded from arjournals.annualreviews.org by INDIANA UNIVERSITY -Bloomington on 10/20/05. For personal use only.
doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.23.1.315 pmid:10845067 fatcat:qskfhm4v6bekzbpgwhgdpzzs3i