Electrophysiology of Attention

Abstract

Advances in electrophysiology occurring in the middle of the twentieth century provided a nonintrusive means of studying the bioelectrical activity associated with behavior in humans and the first method for assessing the activity of the brain. Early psychophysiological research was typically crude and plagued with methodological problems related to various technical limitations (e.g., Angell and Thompson [1]). Nevertheless, a foundation was established for the investigation of the physiological manifestations of cognition. Although methodological complexities continue to present an interpretive problem in experiments, there is now abundant evidence that both central and peripheral bioelectrical activity reflect behavioral and cognitive processes. The observation of this physiological activity led to the concept of arousal, which became an important part of many theories of attention.