Paying attention to consciousness.

An engineering control approach is developed for the movement of attention, based on several features: experimental data indicating separate sites for attention modulation and for the creation of that modulation; the resulting analogy with motor control, to which an engineering approach has been applied; simulation and qualitative results supporting the presence of several of the necessary modules. These features are reviewed in the paper and a control model developed for the movement of attention. The engineering control framework is extended to the attended learning of motor control, again with description of support arising from simulations and qualitative analysis of several paradigms. The framework is even further extended to analyze how consciousness could arise during attentive processing, using the COrollary Discharge of Attention Movement (CODAM) model. This model is extended to encompass the temporal development of activity in various brain sites. Particular signals of the CODAM model are described and related to paradigms such as the attentional blink (AB) and features of simultaneous experience in neglect. A program of future explorations of the CODAM model and a set of open questions conclude the paper.