Attention and Working Memory

Abstract

The environment in which a brain operates contains many different objects. Some objects urgently require a behavioural response, for others a response is less urgent or not required. Developing a response to an object requires detection of receptive fields that can discriminate between different types of object (≈ objects) within the sensory information derived from the object, and determination of the predominant recommendation strength across these receptive fields. This response development occupies cortical and other resources for a period of time, and a process must be established to select the highest priority object and to detect receptive fields within the information derived just from that object. Furthermore, in some situations the receptive fields detected directly within the sensory information derived from the object do not have the type of recommendation strengths needed to generate an appropriate behaviour. In this situation, other receptive fields must be indirectly activated on the basis of past temporally correlated activity with the current sensory receptive fields.