Abstract
Recently our knowledge of the mechanisms of visual-spatial attention has improved because of studies employing single cell recording with alert monkeys and others using performance analysis of neurological patients. These studies suggest that a complex neural network that includes parts of the posterior parietal lobe and midbrain is involved in covert shifts of visual attention. Is this system an isolated visual attentional module or is it part of a more general attentional system? Our studies employ the dual-task technique to determine whether covert visual orienting can take place while a person’s attention is engaged in a language processing task. We find clear evidence of interference between the two tasks, which suggests some common operations. However, the results also indicate that whatever is common to the two tasks does not have the same anatomical location as that of visual-spatial attention.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Bashinski, H. S., & Bachrach, V. R. (1980). Enhancement of perceptual sensitivity as the result of selectively attending to spatial locations. Perception & Psychophysics, 28, 241–248.
Baynes, K., Holtzman, J. D., & Volpe, B. T. (1986). Components of visual attention: Alterations in response pattern to visual stimuli following parietal lobe infarction. Brain, 109, 99–114.
Derenzi, E. (1982). Disorders of space exploration and cognition. New York: Wiley.
Donchin, E. (1984). Report of Panel III: Preparatory Processes. In E. Donchin, Cognitive psychophysiology (pp. 179–219). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Downing, C. J., & Pinker, S. (1985). The spatial structure of visual attention. In M. I. Posner & O. S. M. Marin (Eds.), Attention and performance XI (pp. 171–188). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Duncan, J. (1980a). The demonstration of capacity limitation. Cognitive Psychology, 12, 75–96.
Duncan, J. (1980b). The locus of interference in the perception of simultaneous stimuli. Psychological Review, 87, 272–300.
Farah, M. J. (1984). The neurological basis of mental imagery: A componential analysis. Cognition, 18, 245–272.
Fox, P. T., Fox, J. M., & Raichle, M. E. (1985). The role of cerebral cortex in the generation of voluntary saccades: A positron-emission tomographic study. Journal of Neurophysiology, 54, 348–369.
Gazzaniga, M., & Hillyard, S. A. (1973). Attention mechanisms following brain bisection. In S. Kornblum (Ed.), Attention and performance IV (pp. 221–237). New York: Academic Press.
Heilman, K. M., & Van Den Abell, T. (1979). Right hemisphere dominance for mediating cerebral activation. Neuropsychologia, 17, 315–321.
Hillyard, H. C., & Kutas, M. (1983). Electrophysiology of cognitive processes. Annual Review of Psychology, 34, 33–61
Hughes, H. C., & Zimba, L. D. (1985). Spatial maps of directed visual attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 11, 409–430.
Jonides, J. P. (1981). Voluntary versus automatic control over the mind’s eye. In J. Long & A. Baddeley (Eds.), Attention and performance IX (pp. 187–204). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Keele, S. W., & Neil, W. T. (1978). Mechanisms of attention. In E. C. Carterette (Ed.), Handbook of perception (Vol. 9, pp. 3–47). New York: Academic Press.
Kerr, B. (1973). Processing demands during mental operations. Memory & Cognition, 1, 401–412.
Koch, C., & Ullman, S. (1985). Selective visual attention: Towards the underlying neural circuitry. Human Neurobiology, 4, 219–227.
Kosslyn, S. W. (1980). Image and mind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Laberge, D. L. (1973). Identification of two components of the time to switch attention. In S. Kornblum (Ed.), Attention and performance IV (pp. 71–85). New York: Academic Press.
Lansman, M., Farr, S., & Hunt, E. (1984). Expectancy and dual task of interference. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 10, 195–204.
Marcel, A. J. (1983). Conscious and unconscious perception: Experiments on visual masking and word recognition. Cognitive Psychology, 15, 197–237.
Maylor, E. A. (1985). Facilitatory and inhibitory components of orienting in visual space. In M. I. Posner & O. S. M. Marin (Eds.), Attention and performance XI (pp. 189–289). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Mesulam, M. M. (1981). A cortical network for directed attention and unilateral neglect. Annals of Neurology, 10, 309–325.
Morrow, L. A., & Ratcliff, G. G. (1987). Attentional mechanisms of clinical neglect. Journal of Clinical & Experimental Neuropsychology, 9, 74–75.
Mountcastle, V. B. (1978). Brain mechanisms for directed attention. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 71, 14–27.
Nää tä ne, R. (1982). Processing negativity: An event related potential reflection of selective attention. Psychological Bulletin, 92, 605–640.
Petersen, S. E., Fox, P. T., Posner, M. I., Mintun, M. A., & Raichle, M. E. (1987). Focal brain activity during visual language tasks are measured with averaged PET images of evoked CBF change. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, 12, 1261.
Pinker, S. (1980). Mental imagery and the third dimension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 109, 354–371.
Posner, M. I. (1975). Psychobiology of attention. In M. Gazzaniga & C. Blakemore (Eds.), Handbook of psychobiology (pp. 441–480). New York: Academic Press.
Posner, M. I. (1978). Chronometrie explorations of mind. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Posner, M. I. (1980). Orienting of attention. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 32, 3–25.
Posner, M. I., & Boies, S. J. (1971). Components of attention. Psychological Review, 78, 391–408.
Posner, M. I., Choate, L., Rafal, R. D., & Vaughan, J. (1985). Inhibition of return: Neural mechanisms and function. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 2, 211–228.
Posner, M. I., & Cohen, Y. (1984). Components of visual orienting. In H. Bouma & D. G. Bowhuis (Eds.), Attention and performance X (pp. 531–556). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Posner, M. I., Cohen, Y., Choate, L., Hockey, R., & Maylor, E. (1984). Sustained concentration: Passive filtering or active orienting. In S. Kornblum & J. Requin (Eds.), Preparatory states and processes (pp.49–65). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Posner, M. I., Cohen, Y., & Rafal, R. D. (1982). Neural systems control of spatial orienting. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 298, 187–198.
Posner, M. I., & Henik, A. (1983). Isolating representational systems. In J. Beck, B. Hope, & A. Rosenfeld (Eds.), Human and machine vision (pp. 395–412). New York: Academic Press.
Posner, M. I., Walker, J. A., Friedrich, F. J., & Rafal, R. D. (1984). Effects of parietal lobe injury on covert orienting of visual attention. Journal of Neuroscience, 4, 1863–1874.
Rafal, R. D. (1987). Frontal lobe lesions slow the movement of visual attention. Neurology, 37(Suppl. 1), 128.
Remington, R., & Pierce, L. (1984). Moving attention and evidence for time-invariant shifts of visual selective attention. Perception & Psychophysics, 35, 393–399.
Roland, P. E. (1985). Cortical organization of voluntary behavior in man. Human Neurobiology, 4, 155–167.
Sanders, A. (1977). Structural and functional aspects of the reaction process. In S. Dornic (Ed.), Attention and performance VI (pp. 3–25). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Schwartz, M. L., & Goldman-Rakic, P. S. (1982). Single cortical neurons have axon colaterals to ipsilateral and contralateral cortex in fetal and adult primates. Nature, 299, 154–156.
Shaw, M. L. (1984). Division of attention among spatial locations. In H. Bouma & D. G. Bouwhuis (Eds.), Attention and performance X (pp. 109–124). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Shepard, R. N. (1978). The mental image. American Psychologist, 33, 125–137.
Shulman, G. L., Remington, R., & McLean, J. P. (1979). Moving attention through visual space. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 5, 522–526.
Treisman, A. M., & Gelade, P. A. (1980). A feature integration theory of attention. Cognitive Psychology, 12, 97–136.
Tsal, Y. (1983). Movements of attention across the visual field. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 9, 523–530.
Tucker, P. M., & Williamson, P. A. (1984). Asymmetric neural control in human self-regulation. Psychological Review, 91, 185–215.
Ullman, S. (1984). Visual routines. Cognition, 18, 97–159.
Wurtz, R. H., Goldberg, M. E., & Robinson, D. L. (1980). Behavioral modulation of visual responses in monkey. Progress in Psychobiology & Physiological Psychology, 9, 42–83.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was supported in part by NIMH Grant R01-3853-02 and in part by the Office of Naval Research under Contract Nos. N 0014-83-K-0601 and N 0014-86-K-0289.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Posner, M.I., Inhoff, A.W., Friedrich, F.J. et al. Isolating attentional systems: A cognitive-anatomical analysis. Psychobiology 15, 107–121 (1987). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333099
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333099