The Evolution and Future Development of Attention Networks

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to examine how the development of attention networks has left many important issues unsolved and to propose possible directions for solving them by combining human and animal studies. The paper starts with evidence from citation mapping that indicates attention has played a central role in integrating cognitive and neural studies into Cognitive Neuroscience. The integration of the fields depends in part upon similarities and differences in performance over a wide variety of animals. In the case of exogenous orienting of attention primates, rodents and humans are quite similar, but this is not so with executive control. In humans, attention networks continue to develop at different rates during infancy and childhood and into adulthood. From age four on, the Attention Network Test (ANT) allows measurement of individual differences in the alerting, orienting and executive networks. Overt and covert orienting do overlap in their anatomy, but there is evidence of some degree of functional independence at the cellular level. The attention networks frequently work together with sensory, memory and other networks. Integration of animal and human studies may be advanced by examining common genes involved in individual attention networks or their integration with other brain networks. Attention networks involve widely scattered computation nodes in different brain areas, both cortical and subcortical. Future studies need to attend to the white matter that connects them and the direction of information flow during task performance.

Cognitive Archeology and the Attentional System: An Evolutionary Mismatch for the Genus Homo

“…A basic model, which is partially supported anatomically, separates alerting (arousal and vigilance), orienting (selection of stimuli) and executive control (decision-making and volitional management) (Petersen and Posner 2012). This tripartite model is well supported on a general neuroanatomical and functional ground, and is useful to stimulate the debate concerning the existence of distinct attentional subsystems, influenced by different biological variables and environmental conditions (Posner 2023;Posner and Rothbart 2023;Rueda et al 2023). This is particularly important when we recognize that human evolution, as for the evolution of most taxa, is not a linear and gradual progression, but a bushy network formed by alternative, parallel and independent branches.…”

“…In this sense, as mentioned, attentional changes have likely involved both bottom-up and top-down mechanisms. Although these two distinct modes of attentional selection can be distinguished at both the functional and phylogenetic level ( Klein and Lawrence 2011 ; Posner 2023 ), their respective contributions can be harder to disentangle in evolutionary terms, when taking into account their interactions and reciprocal influences ( Stout 2010 ).…”

RDoC Framework Through the Lens of Predictive Processing: Focusing on Cognitive System Domain

“…Attention function serves several purposes, such as maintaining a state of alertness, picking out relevant information from sensory input, and regulating conflicts (Posner & Rothbart, 2007). The attention networks consist of dispersed computational nodes located in various brain regions that often collaborate with networks responsible for sensory perception, memory, and various other functions (Posner, 2023;Posner & Rothbart, 2023).…”

Heart rate variability biofeedback intervention programme to improve attention in primary schools

“…Finally, the executive control network is related to all the processes that help us to voluntarily regulate our behaviour and cognition through the control of attention. All three attentional networks interact with each other to in uence attentional performance (Spagna et al, 2014;Xuan et al, 2016) and are necessary for proper academic performance (Posner et al, 2020;Posner, 2023). Such networks are present in the infant brain, but with a lower degree of functional integration than in the adult brain (De Bie et al, 2012;Johansen et al, 2023;Kaufmann et al, 2017;).…”