| Abstract: | Mammalian sensory systems must continuously select the events to be noticed from the ongoing stream of information, filtering out or habituating to the insignificant. This selective noticing is the province of central mechanisms of orientation and attention that are represented in structures along the neuraxis from brain stem to neocortex. One of the structures is the frontal eye field, long known to be implicated in visual attention through its involvement in horizontal movements of the eyes. The author reviews the relevant neuroanatomy and behavioral and electrophysiological research that decisively show that this small but complex region does more than regulate eye movements. Theories of frontal eye field function are considered, concluding with 2 contemporary views of attention, one based on arousal and the other on the processes of representation of stimulus input, that offer special promise for understanding the role of frontal cortex in the direction of attention. (5 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
