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Visual Attention and Cortical Circuits

PUBLISHER Bradford Book (05/25/2001)
PRODUCT TYPE Hardcover (Hardcover)

Description

An attempt to derive a comprehensive theory of attention from both neurobiological and psychological data.

The neurobiology and psychology of attention have much to learn from each other. Neurobiologists recognize that responses in sensory cortex depend on the behavioral relevance of a stimulus, but have few ways to study how perception changes as a result. Psychologists have the conceptual and methodological tools to do just that, but are confounded by the multiple interpretations and theoretical ambiguities. This book attempts to bridge the two fields and to derive a comprehensive theory of attention from both neurobiological and psychological data. It highlights situations where attention can be seen to alter both neural activity and psychophysical performance/phenomenal experience. This bicultural approach contributes not only to attention research but to the larger goal of linking neural activity to conscious experience.

The book focuses mainly on the effects of visual attention on the ventral and dorsal streams of visual cortex in humans and monkeys and the associated changes in visual performance. Several larger findings emerge: attention may involve more than one neural system; attention modulates all stages of cortical visual processing; the effect of attention is constrained by the intrinsic connectivity of cortex and the resulting contextual interactions; and the notion of a saliency map remains central to thinking about visual attention. The book also considers several approaches to evaluating the same variable through different methods, such as behavioral measurements, functional imaging, and single-unit recording.

Contributors
Narcisse P. Bichot, Erik Blaser, Geoffrey M. Boynton, Jochen Braun, Maurizio Corbetta, Sean M. Culhane, Florin Cutzu, Sophie Deneve, Robert Desimone, John Duncan, Sunil P. Gandhi, Charles D. Gilbert, David J. Heeger, James W. Holsapple, Alexander C. Huk, Minami Ito, Laurent Itti, Christof Koch, Peter E. Latham, Nilli Lavie, D. Kathleen Lee, Zhong-Lin Lu, John H.R. Maunsell, Carrie J. McAdams, Brad C. Motter, Alexandre Pouget, Adam Reeves, John H. Reynolds, Jeffrey D. Schall, Christian Scheier, Shinsuke Shimojo, Gordon L. Shulman, George Sperling, Kirk G. Thompson, John K. Tsotsos, Katsumi Watanabe, Erich Weichselgartner, Gerald Westheimer

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Product Format
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9780262024938
ISBN-10: 0262024934
Binding: Hardback or Cased Book (Sewn)
Content Language: English
More Product Details
Page Count: 344
Carton Quantity: 14
Product Dimensions: 7.29 x 1.84 x 9.32 inches
Weight: 1.83 pound(s)
Feature Codes: Bibliography, Index, Illustrated
Country of Origin: US
Subject Information
BISAC Categories
Medical | Neurology
Medical | Mental Health
Medical | Neuroscience
Grade Level: College Freshman and up
Dewey Decimal: 152.14
Library of Congress Control Number: 00039447
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
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An attempt to derive a comprehensive theory of attention from both neurobiological and psychological data.

The neurobiology and psychology of attention have much to learn from each other. Neurobiologists recognize that responses in sensory cortex depend on the behavioral relevance of a stimulus, but have few ways to study how perception changes as a result. Psychologists have the conceptual and methodological tools to do just that, but are confounded by the multiple interpretations and theoretical ambiguities. This book attempts to bridge the two fields and to derive a comprehensive theory of attention from both neurobiological and psychological data. It highlights situations where attention can be seen to alter both neural activity and psychophysical performance/phenomenal experience. This bicultural approach contributes not only to attention research but to the larger goal of linking neural activity to conscious experience.

The book focuses mainly on the effects of visual attention on the ventral and dorsal streams of visual cortex in humans and monkeys and the associated changes in visual performance. Several larger findings emerge: attention may involve more than one neural system; attention modulates all stages of cortical visual processing; the effect of attention is constrained by the intrinsic connectivity of cortex and the resulting contextual interactions; and the notion of a saliency map remains central to thinking about visual attention. The book also considers several approaches to evaluating the same variable through different methods, such as behavioral measurements, functional imaging, and single-unit recording.

Contributors
Narcisse P. Bichot, Erik Blaser, Geoffrey M. Boynton, Jochen Braun, Maurizio Corbetta, Sean M. Culhane, Florin Cutzu, Sophie Deneve, Robert Desimone, John Duncan, Sunil P. Gandhi, Charles D. Gilbert, David J. Heeger, James W. Holsapple, Alexander C. Huk, Minami Ito, Laurent Itti, Christof Koch, Peter E. Latham, Nilli Lavie, D. Kathleen Lee, Zhong-Lin Lu, John H.R. Maunsell, Carrie J. McAdams, Brad C. Motter, Alexandre Pouget, Adam Reeves, John H. Reynolds, Jeffrey D. Schall, Christian Scheier, Shinsuke Shimojo, Gordon L. Shulman, George Sperling, Kirk G. Thompson, John K. Tsotsos, Katsumi Watanabe, Erich Weichselgartner, Gerald Westheimer

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Editor: Braun, Jochen
Jochen Braun is Professor of Cognitive and Theoretical Neurobiology at the University of Plymouth.
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Editor: Koch, Christof
Christof Koch is Professor of Biology and of Engineering at the California Institute of Technology and Chief Scientific Officer of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. He is the author of "The Quest for Consciousness "and other books.
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Editor: Davis, Joel L.
Joel L. Davis is Program Officer, Cognitive, Neural, and Biomolecular Science and Technology Division, Office of Naval Research.
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Hardcover