Top-down attention is when we consciously mediate that which we focus on. A good example of this would be studying. 

Top-Down Attention

Overt attention refers to the directing of our senses and our attention toward the same target. For example, upon noticing a star in our peripheral vision, if we direct our eyes towards the star (as well as our attention), we would be directing our overt attention towards the star.

Overt Attention

Covert attention refers to directing our attention towards a target, but not our senses. For example, our ability to keep our eyes fixed on one location while "secretly" scrutinizing some other location in our peripheral vision involves covert attention. 

Covert Attention

Sustained attention is involved when a single stimulus source or location must be held in the attentional spotlight for a protracted period. 

Sustained Attention

Also called consciously or endogenously controlled attention, voluntary shifts of attention come from within; they are the conscious, top-down directing of attention toward specific aspects of the environment, according to our interests and goals.

Voluntary Attention

Involuntary attention, also called reflexive or exogenously controlled attention, is the involuntary reorientation toward a sudden or important event. Loud noise or sudden silence, flashes, moving objects - any striking or important change - can potentially capture attention without cognitive effort. 

Involuntary Attention

Bottom-up attention, also known as attentional capture, is an involuntary shift of focus triggered by a prominent stimulus from the environment. For example, if you are concentrating on a conversation in a noisy restaurant, the sudden and loud crash of a dropped tray will likely break through your attentional filters and grab your focus. This response is considered bottom-up because it is driven directly by the external sensory event rather than by internal goals or expectations.

Bottom-Up Attention (Attentional Capture)

- Top-Down Attention
- Bottom-Up Attention
- Overt Attention
- Covert Attention
- Sustained Attention
- Voluntary Attention
- Involuntary Attention

New York University

- Uses of Attention
- How attention affects brain function
- Brain sites creating and directing attention
- Attention disorders
- Consciousness
- Types of Attention
- Cingulate Cortex
- Posterior parietal lobe
- Arousal
- Observing Attention
- Neuroanatomical Substrates of Attention
- Attention Selects Stimuli for Processing
- Attention is Deployed in Several Different Ways
- A Network of Brain Sites Creates and Directs Attention

Subjects in Attention and Higher Cognition

Breedlove, S. & Watson, N. (2017). Behavioral neuroscience, eighth edition. Oxford University Press.

Behavioral Neuroscience 8th Edition

Attention, in addition to being used to focus attention on certain stimuli, is used to systematically scan the world, or order to find some specific item in a sea of distracters.

Using Attention to Search for Objects

Attention affects the functioning of the brain. When many cortical neurons work together to solve a complicated problem, their activity becomes synchronized to some degree. However, there are contributions of multiple simultaneously active networks, regional differences in the timing of activity, and individual variation in the firing of neurons. 

Observing Attention

PET and fMRI studies have confirmed that a general consequence of attention is an enhancement of activity of the brain regions that process key aspects of the target stimuli.

Neuroanatomical Substrates of Attention

Types of Attention

Arousal is the global level of alertness of the individual. It is distinct from attention in that it is not selective to a certain stimulus or stimuli, it is simply the overall level of alertness.

Arousal

- Superior colliculus
- Pulvinar
- Lateral intraparietal area (LIP)
- Intraparietal sulcus (IPS)
- Frontal Eye Field
- Temporoparietal junction
- Voluntary control of attention
- Reflexive attention

Attention is Deployed in Several Different Ways

- attention
- arousal 
- cocktail party effect
- dichotic presentation 
- shadowing
- inattentional blindness 
- dvided-attention tasks
- attentional spotlight
- attentional bottleneck 
- early-selection model 
- late-selection model 
- perceptual load 

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