In adults, most cognitive and emotional self-regulation is carried out by a network of brain regions, including the anterior cingulate, insula, and areas of the basal ganglia, related to executive attention. We propose that during infancy, control systems depend primarily upon a brain network involved in orienting to sensory events that includes…

One current conceptualization of attention subdivides it into functions of alerting, orienting, and executive control. Alerting describes the function of tonically maintaining the alert state and phasically responding to a warning signal. Automatic and voluntary orienting are involved in the selection of information among multiple sensory inputs.…

The study of human attention may be divided into three components. These are alertness, selectivity, and processing. This paper outlines experimental techniques designed to separate these components and examine their interrelations within comparable tasks. (Author)

While neuropsychology relates the neural structures damaged in traumatic brain injury with their cognitive functions in daily life, this report reviews evidence that elementary operations of cognition as defined by cognitive studies are the level at which the brain localizes its computations. Orienting of visual attention is used as a model task.…

A major problem for developmental science is understanding how the cognitive and emotional networks important in carrying out mental processes can be related to individual differences. The last five years have seen major advances in establishing links between alleles of specific genes and the neural networks underlying aspects of attention. These…

Describes current work in selective attention within a framework of research conducted over the past century. Presents evidence that findings at the level of performance, subjective experience, and neural systems can be linked, even though these findings are not yet reducible to a single theory. (Author/GC)

In the 20 years since the publication of "Frames of Mind" by Howard Gardner, two major developments have altered the prospects for making a connection between neuropsychology and theories of how people differ. The first of these events was that electrical or magnetic recording make it possible to "see" inside the brain as…

Studies of selective attention suggest a system which operates across modalities and on many forms of internal representation. Complex analysis, even semantic analysis, of sensory input may occur automatically, but attention controls the locus of action. When computations carried out by the brain are effortful, in the sense that elements compete…

This paper reviews the aspects of cognitive science that relate best to using electrical and magnetic recording to understand the function of brain systems. It outlines a framework for relating cognitive activities of daily life (typing, reading) to underlying neural systems. The framework uses five levels of analysis: task, elementary operations,…

This paper describes a basic framework for integration of computational and energetic concepts in psychological theory. The framework is adapted from a general effort to understand the neural systems underlying cognition. The element of the cognitive system that provides the best basis for attempting to relate energetic and computational ideas is…

Recently, knowledge of the mechanisms of visual-spatial attention has improved due to studies employing single cell recording with alert monkeys and studies using performance analysis of neurological patients. These studies suggest that a complex neural network including parts of the posterior parietal lobe and midbrain are involved in covert…

"Educating the Human Brain" is the product of a quarter century of research. This book provides an empirical account of the early development of attention and self regulation in infants and young children. It examines the brain areas involved in regulatory networks, their connectivity, and how their development is influenced by genes and…

A general framework is outlined for describing the relationship of cognition to brain systems. The model provides for empirical investigations at many levels--computational, chronometric, spatial imaging, and cellular--and argues for the logical interrelationship of these areas of investigation. It is applied to selective visual-spatial attention…