Cognitive Electrophysiology of Attention

Book excerpt: Cognitive Electrophysiology of Attention explores the fundamental mechanisms of attention and related cognitive functions from cognitive neuroscience perspectives. Attention is an essential cognitive ability that enables humans to process and act upon relevant information while ignoring distracting information, and the capacity to focus attention is at the core of mental functioning. Understanding the neural bases of human attention remains a key challenge for neuroscientists and psychologists, and is essential for translational efforts to treat attentional deficits in a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Cognitive electrophysiology is at the center of a multidisciplinary approach that involves the efforts of psychologists, neuroscientists, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, and neurologists to identify basic brain mechanisms and develop translational approaches to improve mental health. This edited volume is authored by leading investigators in the field and discusses methods focused on electrophysiological recordings in humans, including electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potential (ERP) methods, and also incorporates evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Cognitive Electrophysiology of Attention illuminates specific models about attentional mechanisms in vision, audition, multisensory integration, memory, and semantic processing in humans. - Provides an exhaustive overview of attention processes, going from normal functioning to the pathological, and using a combination of methodological tools - An important reference for electrophysiology researchers looking at underlying attention processes rather than the methods themselves - Enables researchers across a broad range of cognitive-process and methodological specialties to stay current on particular hypotheses, findings, and methods - Edited and authored by the worldwide leaders in the field, affording the broadest, most expert coverage available