Attention: Selection in the domains of space, time and task

Attention plays a pivotal role in the organization of behavior and thought and in the quality of real-world performance. According to one taxonomy, attention it is composed of isolable but interacting cognitive systems that mediate: orienting, alertness and executive control. We build upon, and yet depart from this approach to attention, by integrating, these three ideas: selecting implies neglecting, selection can be controlled automatically (by instinct or habit) or effortfully (through intentional strategy) and selection can take place in the domains of space, time and task or resource allocation. In recent years, we have contributed important methodological, empirical and theoretical advances in the field of attention generally, to orienting which is a component of attention, and to inhibition of return, which is a component of orienting that is encourages attention to novelty. Our research progress on attention, orienting and inhibition of return is presented and used as a foundation for the proposed research. Our objectives are: 1) to refine and put forward an improved taxonomy of attention, 2) to better understand the operating characteristics of the six kinds of selection it implies, 3) to refine and put forward the novel methods we have developed for exploring these operating characteristics, 4) to develop computationally explicit models or theories of how selection is controlled by endogenous and exogenous factors, 5) to test specific hypotheses that arise out of our theoretical and modeling efforts or that are stimulated by our empirical discoveries, and 6) to apply our methods and knowledge of cognitive processes to help make a better, safer and healthier world. The primary methods that we will use to achieve these objectives are behavioral measurement (of human perception and performance in carefully designed, often dual task, situations), computational modeling (e.g., artificial neural network modeling) and, recently, neuroimaging (primarily ERPs; but also fMRI). Although this is an individual discovery grant application, "we" has been used deliberately because my RA and trainees and I are a team whose successes depend on intellectual collaboration, cross-training and the sharing of ideas.