Interdependence of attention and consciousness.
Progress in Brain Research 2008 DOI: 10.1016/s0079-6123(07)68006-6 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that top-down attention is not a unitary phenomenon and proposes that this non-unitary characterization may help interpret results from phenomena such as inattentional amnesia, change blindness, attentional blink, perceptual stabilization, and afterimages, which bear on the relationship between attention and consciousness. |
Abstract
Research on attention has been closely linked with possible advances in the study of consciousness. Various theories and models have been proposed for attention in the past 50 years. Behavioural, computational, and neuroscientific approaches have been successful in improving our understanding of attentional processes. Given the current status of attention research, what can we say about the relationship between attention and consciousness? This paper discusses the possible relationships between attention and consciousness. Findings from cognitive science and neuroscience relevant to the elucidation of this relationship are discussed. Recent findings from phenomena that have a bearing on this relationship such as inattentional amnesia, change blindness, attentional blink, perceptual stabilization, and afterimages are described. The implications of the results of these phenomena for attention and awareness are also discussed. It is proposed that top-down attention is not a unitary phenomena and such a characterization may provide a way to interpret some of the results from these findings.
Citations in the library
Cited by 4
- Attention as a Process of Selection, Perception as a Process of Representation, and Phenomenal Experience as the Resulting Process of Perception Being Modulated by a Dedicated Consciousness Mechanism Frontiers in Psychology 2011
- The why of the phenomenal aspect of consciousness: Its main functions and the mechanisms underpinning it Frontiers in Psychology July 28, 2022
- Conscious experience and emotion: an attention-based account. Frontiers in Psychology 2026
- Consciousness: a unique way of processing information. Cognitive Processing August 1, 2018
Cites 5
- Two neural correlates of consciousness Trends in Cognitive Sciences January 13, 2005
- Global workspace theory of consciousness: toward a cognitive neuroscience of human experience. Progress in Brain Research 2005
- A framework for consciousness Nature Neuroscience February 1, 2003
- Attention: the mechanisms of consciousness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences August 2, 1994
- Slippage in the unity of consciousness. Ciba Foundation symposium 1993