The cognitive neuroscience of visual attention.

In current conceptualizations of visual attention, selection takes place through integrated competition between recurrently connected visual processing networks. Selection, which facilitates the emergence of a 'winner' from among many potential targets, can be associated with particular spatial locations or object properties, and it can be modulated by both stimulus-driven and goal-driven factors. Recent neurobiological data support this account, revealing the activation of striate and extrastriate brain regions during conditions of competition. In addition, parietal and temporal cortices play a role in selection, biasing the ultimate outcome of the competition.