The Attentive Brain
edited by Raja Parasuraman
Of the myriad tasks that the brain has to perform, perhaps none is as
crucial to the performance of other tasks as attention. A central thesis
of this book on the cognitive neuroscience of attention is that attention
is not a single entity, but a finite set of brain processes that interact
mutually and with other brain processes in the performance of perceptual,
cognitive, and motor skills.
After an introductory part I, the book consists of three parts. Part II,
Methods, describes the major neuroscience methods, including techniques
used only with animals (anatomical tract tracing, single-unit
electrophysiology, neurochemical manipulations), noninvasive human
brain-imaging techniques (ERPs, positron emission tomography, and
functional magnetic resonance imaging), and studies with brain-damaged
individuals. This part also includes a chapter on the computational
modeling of attention. Part III, Varieties of Attention, looks at three
major components of attention from the cognitive neuroscience perspective:
selection, vigilance, and control. It also discusses links to memory and
language. Finally, part IV, Development and Pathologies, discusses the
application of findings from the previous sections to the analysis of
normal and abnormal development and to pathologies of attention such as
schizophrenia and attention deficit disorders.
Raja Parasuraman is Professor in the Department of Psychology at the
Catholic University of America.
Contributors
Edward Awh, Gordon C. Baylis, Jochen Braun, Dennis Cantwell, Vincent P.
Clark, Maurizio Corbetta, Susan M. Courtney, Francis Crinella, Matthew C.
Davidson, GregoryJ. DiGirolamo, Jon Driver, Jane Emerson, Pauline Filipek,
Ira Fischler, Massimo Girelli, Pamela M. Greenwood, James V. Haxby, Mark
H. Johnson, John Jonides, Julian S. Joseph, Robert T. Knight, Christof
Koch, Steven J. Luck, Richard T. Marrocco, Brad C. Motter, Ken Nakayama,
Orhan Nalcioglu, Paul G. Nestor, Ernst Niebur, Brian F. O'Donnell, Raja
Parasuraman, Michael I. Posner, Robert D. Rafal, Trevor W. Robbins, Lynn
C. Robertson, Judi E. See, James Swanson, Diane Swick, Don Tucker, Leslie
G. Ungerleider, Joel S. Warm, Maree J. Webster, Sharon Wigal.
A Bradford Book
May 1998
cloth
7 x 10, 532 pp., 105 illus., 13 color
ISBN 0-262-16172-9
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