2025/08/06 by Suliann Ben Hamed · 1 voice
Neuroscience · #Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies #Neural dynamics and brain function #Visual perception and processing mechanisms
paper · doi:10.1146/annurev-vision-101322-011902
openalex publication_date 2025/08/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Visual attention prioritizes relevant stimuli in complex environments through top-down (goal-directed) and bottom-up (stimulus-driven) mechanisms within cortical networks. This review explores the neural mechanisms underlying visual attention, focusing on how attentional control is encoded and decoded from prefrontal signals in both spatial and temporal domains. Decoding methods enable real-time tracking of covert visual attention from prefrontal activity with high spatial and temporal resolution, as a neurophysiological proxy of the attentional spotlight. This research provides insights into stimulus selection mechanisms, proactive and reactive suppression of irrelevant stimuli, the rhythmic nature of attentional shifts and attentional saccades, the balance between focus and flexibility, and the variation of these processes along epochs of sustained attention. Additionally, the review highlights how recurrent neural networks in the prefrontal cortex contribute to supporting these attention dynamics. These findings collectively offer a comprehensive model of attention that integrates dynamic prioritization processes at short and longer timescales.