The Functional Roles of Attention
May 8, 2017 Robert W. Kentridge, Berit Brogaard 2 citations
Attention may help solve the binding problem by shrinking receptive fields around attended objects, as suggested by Reynolds and Desimone. Attention optimizes the accuracy of neural responses coding complex stimulus properties. Neurophysiological studies show that attentional modulation and changes in stimulus luminance produce identical firing-rate modulations. Modulating perceived brightness is only one function of attention. Independent evidence that attention prevents informational overload comes from hallucinogens; a possible mechanism for how psilocybin affects attentional tracking is identified by examining how it generates drug-induced hallucinations.