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Abstract We build on the existing biased competition view to argue that attention is anemergentproperty of neural computations within and across hierarchically embedded and structurally connected cortical pathways. Critically then, one must ask,what is attention emergent from? Within this framework, developmental changes in the quality of sensory input and feedforward‐feedback information flow shape the emergence and efficiency of attention. Several gradients of developing structural and functional cortical architecture across the caudal‐to‐rostral axis provide the substrate for attention to emerge. Neural activity within visual areas depends on neuronal density, receptive field size, tuning properties of neurons, and the location of and competition between features and objects in the visual field. These visual cortical properties highlight the information processing bottleneck attention needs to resolve. Recurrent feedforward and feedback connections convey sensory information through a series of steps at each level of the cortical hierarchy, integrating sensory information across the entire extent of the cortical hierarchy and linking sensory processing to higher‐order brain regions. Higher‐order regions concurrently provide input conveying behavioral context and goals. Thus, attention reflects the output of a series of complex biased competition neural computations that occur within and across hierarchically embedded cortical regions. Cortical development proceeds along the caudal‐to‐rostral axis, mirroring the flow in sensory information from caudal to rostral regions, and visual processing continues to develop into childhood. Examining both typical and atypical development will offer critical mechanistic insight not otherwise available in the adult stable state. This article is categorized under:Psychology > Attention
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Decoding Visual Spatial Attention Control
In models of visual spatial attention control, it is commonly held that top–down control signals originate in the dorsal attention network, propagating to the visual cortex to modulate baseline neural activity and bias sensory processing. However, the precise distribution of these top–down influences across different levels of the visual hierarchy is debated. In addition, it is unclear whether these baseline neural activity changes translate into improved performance. We analyzed attention-related baseline activity during the anticipatory period of a voluntary spatial attention task, using two independent functional magnetic resonance imaging datasets and two analytic approaches. First, as in prior studies, univariate analysis showed that covert attention significantly enhanced baseline neural activity in higher-order visual areas contralateral to the attended visual hemifield, while effects in lower-order visual areas (e.g., V1) were weaker and more variable. Second, in contrast, multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) revealed significant decoding of attention conditions across all visual cortical areas, with lower-order visual areas exhibiting higher decoding accuracies than higher-order areas. Third, decoding accuracy, rather than the magnitude of univariate activation, was a better predictor of a subject's stimulus discrimination performance. Finally, the MVPA results were replicated across two experimental conditions, where the direction of spatial attention was either externally instructed by a cue or based on the participants’ free choice decision about where to attend. Together, these findings offer new insights into the extent of attentional biases in the visual hierarchy under top–down control and how these biases influence both sensory processing and behavioral performance.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2318886
- PAR ID:
- 10571823
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1523
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- eneuro
- Volume:
- 12
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 2373-2822
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: Article No. ENEURO.0512-24.2025
- Size(s):
- Article No. ENEURO.0512-24.2025
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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