Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention

This volume presents the latest advances in understanding attention: its anatomy, circuitry, functions, and deficits. Outstanding investigators have written brief yet substantive chapters in which they not only summarize key findings but also illuminate their goals and the directions their research is taking. Coverage includes different cognitive models of attention; knowledge emerging from functional imaging and genetic studies; and neurophysiological, developmental, and neuropsychological approaches. Emerging knowledge is presented on processes that impair or alter attention, and clinical implications are discussed. Linking many levels of analysis, and featuring over 100 illustrations, the book moves us closer to a coherent view of the attentional system and the key role it plays in everyday life.

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Reviewer:Michael Joel Schrift, D.O., M.A.(University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine)
Description:This superb new book reviews the current literature on attention. Written and edited by internationally recognized cognitive neuroscientists, this book represents the astonishing advances that have taken place in the study of attention and its mechanisms and is certain to make a valuable contribution to the field.
Purpose:The purpose is to document the rapid developments in the study of attention. The editor notes that the understanding of attention is likely to change how we teach and understand mental illness and will further our knowledge of how the brain and the mind are integrated. The editor and chapter contributors have met their goal.
Audience:The target audience includes cognitive neuroscientists interested in the domain of attention. Research psychiatrists interested in attentional aspects of psychopathology will obtain a good grasp of the field as will graduate students in neuroscience and psychology.
Features:The multiauthored book is divided into six sections containing 32 chapters, including author and subject indexes. Topics covered include cognitive models of attention, imaging studies of attention, synaptic and genetics aspects of attention, developmental issues in attention, and attentional deficits, especially in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Each chapter ends with relevant and up-to-date references. Having a separate author and subject index is very helpful in looking up citations.
Assessment:Although William James stated in 1890, "Although we might all know what attention is ...," this book in 2005 is a step towards clarifying, in a modern cognitive neuroscientific way, what attention is. I highly recommend it.

Michael I. Posner, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Oregon. He has written numerous articles involving studies of attention for over 40 years. Dr. Posner’s studies involve cognitive, neuroimaging, electrical recording, developmental, and genetic methods. His model of attention, involving networks controlling alertness, orientation to sensory events, and executive control, has been influential in the field. Dr. Posner and his colleagues have developed methods for measuring each aspect of attention that have been widely used by many researchers. His work has been recognized by his election to the National Academy of Sciences and by several awards, including the first Grawemeyer Award (with Marc Raichle and Steven Petersen) and the Fyssen Foundation International Prize for 2003.