Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

On the evolution of conscious attention

  • Theoretical Review
  • Published:
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper aims to clarify the relationship between consciousness and attention through theoretical considerations about evolution. Specifically, we will argue that the empirical findings on attention and the basic considerations concerning the evolution of the different forms of attention demonstrate that consciousness and attention must be dissociated regardless of which definition of these terms one uses. To the best of our knowledge, no extant view on the relationship between consciousness and attention has this advantage. Because of this characteristic, this paper presents a principled and neutral way to settle debates concerning the relationship between consciousness and attention, without falling into disputes about the meaning of these terms. A decisive conclusion of this approach is that extreme views on the relationship between consciousness and attention must be rejected, including identity and full dissociation views. There is an overlap between the two within conscious attention, but developing a full understanding of this mechanism requires further empirical investigations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Phenomenal consciousness is the subjective experience of “what it is like” to be in a certain mental state, as Nagel (1974) famously described.

  2. The various levels of the consciousness and attention dissociation (CAD) are examined in detail in Montemayor & Haladjian (2014).

  3. The individuation of visual objects is related to demonstrative thoughts and provides a solution to the “reference problem”, which is concerned with how an object can be tracked through space and time and be linked to a mental representation (Perry, 1997; Pylyshyn, 2001, 2003, 2007; Siegel, 2002). In this way, attention helps anchor mental representations in the world by providing links to higher-level representations (e.g., object representations in working memory).

  4. See Pöppel (1988) on these findings, and Montemayor (2013) for discussions on the representational characteristics of the cross-modal simultaneity window.

  5. Blindsight is a condition where damage to the visual cortex prevents the individual from being able to consciously perceive a visual stimulus, yet they are still able to act upon it (e.g., pick up an object) since the relevant information for the motor system can by-pass the visual cortex (Brogaard, 2012; Kentridge, 2012; Kentridge, Nijboer, & Heywood, 2008; Weiskrantz, 1996).

  6. Dualist accounts tend to assume a metaphysical explanation of consciousness, which requires an account outside the physical world; even some interpretations of quantum mechanics seem to suggest some form of dualism (e.g., the von Neumann interpretation). Physicalist accounts require a physical (e.g., neural) basis to phenomenal conscious experience.

References

  • Alvarez, G. A., & Cavanagh, P. (2004). The capacity of visual short-term memory is set both by visual information load and by number of objects. Psychological Science, 15(2), 106–111. doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.01502006.x

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez, G. A., & Oliva, A. (2008). The representation of simple ensemble visual features outside the focus of attention. Psychological Science, 19(4), 392–398. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02098.x

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Awh, E., Belopolsky, A. V., & Theeuwes, J. (2012). Top-down versus bottom-up attentional control: A failed theoretical dichotomy. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(8), 437–443. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2012.06.010

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Awh, E., & Jonides, J. (2001). Overlapping mechanisms of attention and spatial working memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5(3), 119–126. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(00)01593-X

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baars, B. J. (1988). A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baars, B. J. (1998). The functions of consciousness: Reply. Trends in Neurosciences, 21(5), 201. doi:10.1016/S0166-2236(98)01252-1

    Google Scholar 

  • Baars, B. J. (2002). The conscious access hypothesis: Origins and recent evidence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6(1), 47–52. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(00)01819-2

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. D. (2000). The episodic buffer: A new component of working memory? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(11), 417–423. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(00)01538-2

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. D., & Della Sala, S. (1996). Working memory and executive control. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 351(1346), 1397–1493. doi:10.1098/rstb.1996.0123

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. D., & Weiskrantz, L. (Eds.). (1993). Attention: Selection, Awareness, and Control: A Tribute to Donald Broadbent. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Batson, M. A., Beer, A. L., Seitz, A. R., & Watanabe, T. (2011). Spatial shifts of audio-visual interactions by perceptual learning are specific to the trained orientation and eye. Seeing and Perceiving, 24(6), 579–594. doi:10.1163/187847611X603738

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baylis, G. C., & Driver, J. (1993). Visual attention and objects: Evidence for hierarchical coding of location. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 19(3), 451–470. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.19.3.451

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bayne, T. (2007). Conscious states and conscious creatures: Explanation in the scientific study of consciousness. Philosophical Perspectives, 21(1), 1–22. doi:10.1111/j.1520-8583.2007.00118.x

    Google Scholar 

  • Beauchamp, M. S., Petit, L., Ellmore, T. M., Ingeholm, J., & Haxby, J. V. (2001). A parametric fMRI study of overt and covert shifts of visuospatial attention. NeuroImage, 14(2), 310–321. doi:10.1006/nimg.2001.0788

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Block, N. (1995). On a confusion about a function of consciousness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 18(2), 227–247. doi:10.1017/S0140525X00038188

    Google Scholar 

  • Brefczynski, J. A., & DeYoe, E. A. (1999). A physiological correlate of the 'spotlight' of visual attention. Nature Neuroscience, 2(4), 370–374. doi:10.1038/7280

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brogaard, B. (2011). Are there unconscious perceptual processes? Consciousness and Cognition, 20(2), 449–463. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2010.10.002

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brogaard, B. (2012). Non-visual consciousness and visual images in blindsight. Consciousness and Cognition, 21(1), 595–596. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2011.12.003

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bruya, B. (2010). Effortless Attention: A New Perspective in the Cognitive Science of Attention and Action. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bundesen, C., Habekost, T., & Kyllingsbaek, S. (2005). A neural theory of visual attention: Bridging cognition and neurophysiology. Psychological Review, 112(2), 291–328. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.112.2.291

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burkell, J. A., & Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1997). Searching through subsets: A test of the visual indexing hypothesis. Spatial Vision, 11(2), 225–258. doi:10.1163/156856897X00203

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burnham, B. R. (2007). Displaywide visual features associated with a search display's appearance can mediate attentional capture. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14(3), 392–422. doi:10.3758/BF03194082

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrasco, M. (2011). Visual attention: The past 25 years. Vision Research, 51(13), 1484–1525. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2011.04.012

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carruthers, P. (2000). Phenomenal Consciousness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chalmers, D. J. (1996). The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Z. (2012). Object-based attention: A tutorial review. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 74(5), 784–802. doi:10.3758/s13414-012-0322-z

    Google Scholar 

  • Chesney, D. L., & Haladjian, H. H. (2011). Evidence for a shared mechanism used in multiple-object tracking and subitizing. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 73(8), 2457–2480. doi:10.3758/s13414-011-0204-9

    Google Scholar 

  • Chou, W.-L., & Yeh, S.-L. (2012). Object-based attention occurs regardless of object awareness. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 19(2), 225–231. doi:10.3758/s13423-011-0207-5

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, A. (2013). Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36(3), 181–204. doi:10.1017/S0140525X12000477

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, E. H., & Tong, F. (2013). Neural Mechanisms of Object-Based Attention. Cerebral Cortex. doi:10.1093/cercor/bht303

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, M. A., Cavanagh, P., Chun, M. M., & Nakayama, K. (2012). The attentional requirements of consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(8), 411–417. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2012.06.013

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (2013). Evolutionary psychology: New perspectives on cognition and motivation. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 201–229. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.121208.131628

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cowan, N. (2001). The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24(1), 87–114. doi:10.1017/S0140525X01373922. discussion 114-185.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life (1st ed.). New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Fockert, J. W., Rees, G., Frith, C. D., & Lavie, N. (2004). Neural correlates of attentional capture in visual search. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16(5), 751–759. doi:10.1162/089892904970762

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dehaene, S., & Naccache, L. (2001). Towards a cognitive neuroscience of consciousness: Basic evidence and a workspace framework. Cognition, 79(1–2), 1–37. doi:10.1016/S0010-0277(00)00123-2

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dennett, D. C. (1969). Content and Consciousness. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dennett, D. C. (1991). Consciousness Explained (1st ed.). Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dennett, D. C. (2005). Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Desimone, R., & Duncan, J. (1995). Neural mechanisms of selective visual attention. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 18, 193–222. doi:10.1146/annurev.ne.18.030195.001205

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Desmurget, M., Reilly, K. T., Richard, N., Szathmari, A., Mottolese, C., & Sirigu, A. (2009). Movement intention after parietal cortex stimulation in humans. Science, 324(5928), 811–813. doi:10.1126/science.1169896

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Di Lollo, V., Enns, J. T., & Rensink, R. A. (2000). Competition for consciousness among visual events: The psychophysics of reentrant visual processes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 129(4), 481–507. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.129.4.481

    Google Scholar 

  • Edelman, D. B., Baars, B. J., & Seth, A. K. (2005). Identifying hallmarks of consciousness in non-mammalian species. Consciousness and Cognition, 14(1), 169–187. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2004.09.001

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eriksen, C. W., & Yeh, Y.-Y. (1985). Allocation of attention in the visual field. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 11(5), 583–597. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.11.5.583

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Feinberg, T. E., & Mallatt, J. (2013). The evolutionary and genetic origins of consciousness in the Cambrian Period over 500 million years ago. Frontiers in Psychology, 4. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00667

  • Feldman, J. (2007). Formation of visual “objects” in the early computation of spatial relations. Perception & Psychophysics, 69(5), 816–827. doi:10.3758/BF03193781

    Google Scholar 

  • Filevich, E., Vanneste, P., Brass, M., Fias, W., Haggard, P., & Kühn, S. (2013). Brain correlates of subjective freedom of choice. Consciousness and Cognition, 22(4), 1271–1284. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2013.08.011

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Finlay, B. L., & Brodsky, P. B. (2006). Cortical evolution as the expression of a program for disproportionate growth and the proliferation of areas. In J. H. Kaas (Ed.), Evolution of Nervous Systems: A Comprehensive Reference (1st ed., Vol. 1, pp. 73–96). Amsterdam: Elsevier Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitch, W. T., Hauser, M. D., & Chomsky, N. (2005). The evolution of the language faculty: Clarifications and implications. Cognition, 97(2), 179–210. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2005.02.005. discussion 211-125.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fodor, J. A. (1983). The Modularity of Mind: An Essay on Faculty Psychology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fodor, J. A. (1998). Concepts: Where Cognitive Science Went Wrong. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallistel, C. R. (1990a). The Organization of Learning. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallistel, C. R. (1990b). Representations in animal cognition: An introduction. Cognition, 37(1–2), 1–22. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(90)90016-D

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gazzaley, A., & Nobre, A. C. (2011). Top-down modulation: Bridging selective attention and working memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(2), 129–135. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2011.11.014

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gegenfurtner, K. R. (2003). Cortical mechanisms of colour vision. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 4(7), 563–572. doi:10.1038/nrn1138

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Geisler, W. S., Perry, J. S., Super, B. J., & Gallogly, D. P. (2001). Edge co-occurrence in natural images predicts contour grouping performance. Vision Research, 41(6), 711–724. doi:10.1016/S0042-6989(00)00277-7

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gould, S. J., & Lewontin, R. C. (1979). The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: A critique of the adaptationist programme. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 205(1161), 581–598. doi:10.2307/77447

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffin, D. R., & Speck, G. B. (2004). New evidence of animal consciousness. Animal Cognition, 7(1), 5–18. doi:10.1007/s10071-003-0203-x

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haladjian, H. H., Montemayor, C., & Pylyshyn, Z. W. (2008). Segregating targets and nontargets in depth eliminates inhibition of nontargets in Multiple Object Tracking. Visual Cognition, 16(1), 107–110. doi:10.1007/s10071-003-0203-x

    Google Scholar 

  • Haladjian, H. H., & Pylyshyn, Z. W. (2011). Enumerating by pointing to locations: A new method for measuring the numerosity of visual object representations. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 73(2), 303–308. doi:10.3758/s13414-010-0030-5

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamker, F. H. (2005). The reentry hypothesis: The putative interaction of the frontal eye field, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and areas V4, IT for attention and eye movement. Cerebral Cortex, 15(4), 431–447. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhh146

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hollingworth, A., & Maxcey-Richard, A. M. (2013). Selective maintenance in visual working memory does not require sustained visual attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 39(4), 1047–1058. doi:10.1037/a0030238

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hommel, B. (2004). Event files: Feature binding in and across perception and action. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(11), 494–500. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2004.08.007

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hommel, B. (2005). How much attention does an event file need? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 31(5), 1067–1082. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.31.5.1067

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hommel, B. (2007). Feature integration across perception and action: Event files affect response choice. Psychological Research, 71(1), 42–63. doi:10.1007/s00426-005-0035-1

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Horowitz, T. S., Holcombe, A. O., Wolfe, J. M., Arsenio, H. C., & DiMase, J. S. (2004). Attentional pursuit is faster than attentional saccade. Journal of Vision, 4(7), 585–603. doi:10.1167/4.7.6

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hubel, D. H. (1995). Eye, Brain, and Vision. New York: Scientific American Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubel, D. H., & Wiesel, T. N. (1962). Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecture in the cat's visual cortex. The Journal of Physiology, 160, 106–154.

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Humphrey, N. (2011). Soul Dust: The Magic of Consciousness. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, J. S., Hollingworth, A., & Luck, S. J. (2008). The role of attention in the maintenance of feature bindings in visual short-term memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 34(1), 41–55. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.34.1.41

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, M. K., Hashtroudi, S., & Lindsay, D. S. (1993). Source monitoring. Psychological Bulletin, 114(1), 3–28. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.114.1.3

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D., Treisman, A., & Gibbs, B. J. (1992). The reviewing of object files: Object-specific integration of information. Cognitive Psychology, 24(2), 175–219. doi:10.1016/0010-0285(92)90007-O

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kastner, S., & Ungerleider, L. G. (2000). Mechanisms of visual attention in the human cortex. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 23, 315–341. doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.23.1.315

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kentridge, R. W. (2012). Blindsight: Spontaneous scanning of complex scenes. Current Biology, 22(15), R605–R606. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.06.011

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kentridge, R. W., Nijboer, T. C. W., & Heywood, C. A. (2008). Attended but unseen: Visual attention is not sufficient for visual awareness. Neuropsychologia, 46(3), 864–869. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.11.036

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koch, C. (2004). The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach. Denver, CO: Roberts & Company Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koch, C., & Ullman, S. (1985). Shifts in selective visual attention: Towards the underlying neural circuitry. Human Neurobiology, 4(4), 219–227. doi:10.1007/978-94-009-3833-5_5

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kovács, I. (1996). Gestalten of today: Early processing of visual contours and surfaces. Behavioural Brain Research, 82(1), 1–11. doi:10.1016/S0166-4328(97)81103-5

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kühn, S., & Brass, M. (2009). Retrospective construction of the judgement of free choice. Consciousness and Cognition, 18(1), 12–21. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2008.09.007

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamme, V. A. F. (2003). Why visual attention and awareness are different. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(1), 12–18. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(02)00013-X

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lamme, V. A. F. (2006). Towards a true neural stance on consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10(11), 494–501. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2006.09.001

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lovibond, P. F., Liu, J. C. J., Weidemann, G., & Mitchell, C. J. (2011). Awareness is necessary for differential trace and delay eyeblink conditioning in humans. Biological Psychology, 87(3), 393–400. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.05.002

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Luck, S. J., Chelazzi, L., Hillyard, S. A., & Desimone, R. (1997). Neural mechanisms of spatial selective attention in areas V1, V2, and V4 of macaque visual cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology, 77(1), 24–42.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mangun, G. R. (1995). Neural mechanisms of visual selective attention. Psychophysiology, 32(1), 4–18. doi:10.1146/annurev.ne.18.030195.001205

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marr, D. (1980). Visual information processing: The structure and creation of visual representations. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 290(1038), 199–218. doi:10.1098/rstb.1980.0091

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Maunsell, J. H., & Treue, S. (2006). Feature-based attention in visual cortex. Trends in Neurosciences, 29(6), 317–322. doi:10.1016/j.tins.2006.04.001

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McDowell, J. H. (1994). Mind and World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Melcher, D., & Vidnyanszky, Z. (2006). Subthreshold features of visual objects: Unseen but not unbound. Vision Research, 46(12), 1863–1867. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2005.11.021

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Merker, B. (2005). The liabilities of mobility: A selection pressure for the transition to consciousness in animal evolution. Consciousness and Cognition, 14(1), 89–114. doi:10.1016/S1053-8100(03)00002-3

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meuwese, J. D. I., Post, R. A. G., Scholte, H. S., & Lamme, V. A. F. (2013). Does perceptual learning require consciousness or attention? Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 25(10), 1579–1596. doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00424

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Milner, A. D., & Goodale, M. A. (1995). The Visual Brain in Action (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milner, A. D., & Goodale, M. A. (2008). Two visual systems re-viewed. Neuropsychologia, 46(3), 774–785. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.10.005

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, K. J., & Johnson, M. K. (2009). Source monitoring 15 years later: What have we learned from fMRI about the neural mechanisms of source memory? Psychological Bulletin, 135(4), 638–677. doi:10.1037/a0015849

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mitroff, S. R., Scholl, B. J., & Wynn, K. (2005). The relationship between object files and conscious perception. Cognition, 96(1), 67–92. doi:10.1167/3.9.338

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Montemayor, C. (2013). Minding Time: A Philosophical and Theoretical Approach to the Psychology of Time. Boston: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montemayor, C., & Haladjian, H. H. (2014). Consciousness, Attention, and Conscious Attention. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mudrik, L., Faivre, N., & Koch, C. (2014). Information integration without awareness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18(9), 488–496. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2014.04.009

  • Nagel, T. (1974). What is it like to be a bat? Philosophical Review, 83(4), 435–450.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newsome, W. T., & Paré, E. B. (1988). A selective impairment of motion perception following lesions of the middle temporal visual area (MT). The Journal of Neuroscience, 8(6), 2201–2211.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nichols, S., & Grantham, T. (2000). Adaptive complexity and phenomenal consciousness. Philosophy of Science, 67(4), 648–670.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norman, L. J., Heywood, C. A., & Kentridge, R. W. (2013). Object-based attention without awareness. Psychological Science, 24(6), 836–843. doi:10.1177/0956797612461449

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O'Craven, K. M., Downing, P. E., & Kanwisher, N. (1999). fMRI evidence for objects as the units of attentional selection. Nature, 401(6753), 584–587. doi:10.1038/44134

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Oberauer, K., & Hein, L. (2012). Attention to information in working memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(3), 164–169. doi:10.1177/0963721412444727

    Google Scholar 

  • Olivers, C. N. L. (2008). Interactions between visual working memory and visual attention. Frontiers in Bioscience, 13, 1182–1191. doi:10.2741/2754

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Perry, J. (1997). Indexicals and demonstratives. In R. Hale & C. Wright (Eds.), Companion to the Philosophy of Language. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, S. E., & Posner, M. I. (2012). The attention system of the human brain: 20 years after. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 35, 73–89. doi:10.1146/annurev-neuro-062111-150525

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, M. S., Kramer, A. F., & Irwin, D. E. (2004). Covert shifts of attention precede involuntary eye movements. Perception & Psychophysics, 66(3), 398–405. doi:10.3758/BF03194888

    Google Scholar 

  • Polger, T., & Flanagan, O. (2002). Consciousness, adaptation and epiphenomenalism. In J. H. Fetzer (Ed.), Consciousness Evolving (pp. 21–41). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollen, D. A. (2003). Explicit neural representations, recursive neural networks and conscious visual perception. Cerebral Cortex, 13(8), 807–814. doi:10.1093/cercor/13.8.807

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pöppel, E. (1988). Mindworks: Time and Conscious Experience (1st ed.). Boston: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

    Google Scholar 

  • Posner, M. I. (1980). Orienting of attention. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 32(1), 3–25.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Posner, M. I. (1992). Attention as a cognitive and neural system. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1(1), 11–14. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.ep10767759

    Google Scholar 

  • Posner, M. I., Cohen, Y., & Rafal, R. D. (1982). Neural systems control of spatial orienting. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 298(1089), 187–198. doi:10.1098/rstb.1982.0081

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Posner, M. I., Snyder, C. R., & Davidson, B. J. (1980). Attention and the detection of signals. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 109(2), 160–174. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.109.2.160

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prinz, J. J. (2012). The Conscious Brain: How Attention Engenders Experience. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1989). The role of location indexes in spatial perception: A sketch of the FINST spatial-index model. Cognition, 32(1), 65–97. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(89)90014-0

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1999). Is vision continuous with cognition? The case for cognitive impenetrability of visual perception. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22(3), 341–365. discussion 366-423.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pylyshyn, Z. W. (2001). Visual indexes, preconceptual objects, and situated vision. Cognition, 80(1–2), 127–158. doi:10.1016/S0010-0277(00)00156-6

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pylyshyn, Z. W. (2003). Seeing and Visualizing: It's Not What You Think. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pylyshyn, Z. W. (2006). Some puzzling findings in multiple object tracking (MOT): II. Inhibition of moving nontargets. Visual Cognition, 14(2), 175–198. doi:10.1080/13506280544000200

    Google Scholar 

  • Pylyshyn, Z. W. (2007). Things and Places: How the Mind Connects with the World. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pylyshyn, Z. W., Haladjian, H. H., King, C. E., & Reilly, J. E. (2008). Selective nontarget inhibition in Multiple Object Tracking. Visual Cognition, 16(8), 1011–1021. doi:10.1080/13506280802247486

    Google Scholar 

  • Rensink, R. A. (2014). A function-centered taxonomy of visual attention. In P. Coates & S. Coleman (Eds.), Phenomenal Qualities: Sense, Perception, and Consciousness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roelfsema, P. R., Lamme, V. A. F., & Spekreijse, H. (1998). Object-based attention in the primary visual cortex of the macaque monkey. Nature, 395(6700), 376–381. doi:10.1038/26475

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, D. M. (2008). Consciousness and its function. Neuropsychologia, 46(3), 829–840. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.11.012

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scholl, B. J. (2001). Objects and attention: The state of the art. Cognition, 80(1–2), 1–46. doi:10.1016/S0010-0277(00)00152-9

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scholl, B. J., Pylyshyn, Z. W., & Feldman, J. (2001). What is a visual object? Evidence from target merging in multiple object tracking. Cognition, 80(1–2), 159–177. doi:10.1016/S0010-0277(00)00157-8

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seth, A. K., & Baars, B. J. (2005). Neural Darwinism and consciousness. Consciousness and Cognition, 14(1), 140–168. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2004.08.008

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seth, A. K., Baars, B. J., & Edelman, D. B. (2005). Criteria for consciousness in humans and other mammals. Consciousness and Cognition, 14(1), 119–139. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2004.08.006

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seth, A. K., Dienes, Z., Cleeremans, A., Overgaard, M., & Pessoa, L. (2008). Measuring consciousness: Relating behavioural and neurophysiological approaches. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12(8), 314–321. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2008.04.008

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, S. (2002). The role of perception in demonstrative reference. Philosophers’ Imprint, 2(1), 1–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J. M., & Szathmáry, E. (1995). The Major Transitions in Evolution. New York: W.H. Freeman Spektrum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spelke, E. (1994). Initial knowledge: Six suggestions. Cognition, 50(1–3), 431–445. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(94)90039-6

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spencer, H. (1855). The Principles of Psychology (3rd edition (1987th ed.). New York: D. Appleton & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stalnaker, R. (1984). Inquiry. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Striedter, G. F. (2006). Precis of principles of brain evolution. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 29, 1–36. doi:10.1017/S0140525X06009010

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tallon-Baudry, C. (2012). On the neural mechanisms subserving consciousness and attention. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 397. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00397

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Talsma, D., Senkowski, D., Soto-Faraco, S., & Woldorff, M. G. (2010). The multifaceted interplay between attention and multisensory integration. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14(9), 400–410. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2010.06.008

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tanskanen, T., Saarinen, J., Parkkonen, L., & Hari, R. (2008). From local to global: Cortical dynamics of contour integration. Journal of Vision, 8(7), 15 11–12. doi:10.1167/8.7.15

    Google Scholar 

  • Theeuwes, J. (1992). Perceptual selectivity for color and form. Perception & Psychophysics, 51(6), 599–606. doi:10.3758/BF03211656

    Google Scholar 

  • Theeuwes, J. (2010). Top-down and bottom-up control of visual selection. Acta Psychologica, 135(2), 77–99. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2010.02.006

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Theeuwes, J., Van der Stigchel, S., & Olivers, C. N. L. (2006). Spatial working memory and inhibition of return. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13(4), 608–613. doi:10.3758/BF03193970

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, K. G., Biscoe, K. L., & Sato, T. R. (2005). Neuronal basis of covert spatial attention in the frontal eye field. The Journal of Neuroscience, 25(41), 9479–9487. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0741-05.2005

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello, M. (1999). The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tononi, G. (2008). Consciousness as integrated information: A provisional manifesto. The Biological Bulletin, 215(3), 216–242.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tononi, G. (2012). Integrated information theory of consciousness: An updated account. Archives Italiennes de Biologie, 150(2–3), 56–90. doi:10.4449/aib.v149i5.1388

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tononi, G., & Koch, C. (2008). The neural correlates of consciousness: An update. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1124, 239–261. doi:10.1196/annals.1440.004

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (1995). Mapping the evolved functional organization of the mind and brain. In M. S. Gazzaniga & E. Bizzi (Eds.), The Cognitive Neurosciences (pp. 1185–1197). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tootell, R. B., Reppas, J. B., Kwong, K. K., Malach, R., Born, R. T., Brady, T. J., …. Belliveau, J. W. (1995). Functional analysis of human MT and related visual cortical areas using magnetic resonance imaging. The Journal of Neuroscience, 15(4), 3215-3230.

  • Treisman, A. (1996). The binding problem. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 6(2), 171–178. doi:10.1016/S0959-4388(96)80070-5

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Treisman, A. (1998). Feature binding, attention, and object perception. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 353(1373), 1295–1306. doi:10.1098/rstb.1998.0284

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Treisman, A. (2006). How the deployment of attention determines what we see. Visual Cognition, 14(4–8), 411–443. doi:10.1080/13506280500195250

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Treisman, A., & Gelade, G. (1980). A feature-integration theory of attention. Cognitive Psychology, 12(1), 97–136. doi:10.1016/0010-0285(80)90005-5

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Treisman, A., & Zhang, W. (2006). Location and binding in visual working memory. Memory and Cognition, 34(8), 1704–1719. doi:10.3758/BF03195932

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Trick, L. M., & Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1994). Why are small and large numbers enumerated differently? A limited-capacity preattentive stage in vision. Psychological Review, 101(1), 80–102. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.101.1.80

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ungerleider, L. G., & Haxby, J. V. (1994). 'What' and 'where' in the human brain. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 4(2), 157–165. doi:10.1016/0959-4388(94)90066-3

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ushitani, T., Imura, T., & Tomonaga, M. (2010). Object-based attention in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Vision Research, 50(6), 577–584. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2010.01.003

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van Boxtel, J. J. A., Tsuchiya, N., & Koch, C. (2010). Consciousness and attention: On sufficiency and necessity. Frontiers in Psychology, 1(217). doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00217

  • Ward, R. (2013). Attention, evolutionary perspectives. In H. E. Pashler (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the Mind (Vol. 1, pp. 53–56). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wegner, D. M. (2003). The mind's best trick: How we experience conscious will. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(2), 65–69. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00002-0

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weiskrantz, L. (1996). Blindsight revisited. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 6(2), 215–220. doi:10.1016/S0959-4388(96)80075-4

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, M. E., & Treisman, A. M. (2002). Binding in short-term visual memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 131(1), 48–64. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.131.1.48

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiederman, S. D., & O'Carroll, D. C. (2013). Selective attention in an insect visual neuron. Current Biology, 23(2), 156–161. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.048

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe, J. M. (2012). The binding problem lives on: Comment on Di Lollo. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(6), 307–308. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2012.04.013

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe, J. M., & Cave, K. R. (1999). The psychophysical evidence for a binding problem in human vision. Neuron, 24(1), 11–17. doi:10.1016/S0896-6273(00)80818-1

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, R. D., & Ward, L. M. (2008). Orienting of Attention. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yantis, S. (1992). Multielement visual tracking: Attention and perceptual organization. Cognitive Psychology, 24(3), 295–340. doi:10.1016/0010-0285(92)90010-Y

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yantis, S. (1993). Stimulus-driven attentional capture and attentional control settings. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 19(3), 676–681. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.19.3.676

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yantis, S. (2000). Goal-directed and stimulus-driven determinants of attentional control. In S. Monsell & J. Driver (Eds.), Control of Cognitive Processes. Attention and Performance XVIII (pp. 73-103). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yantis, S., & Hillstrom, A. P. (1994). Stimulus-driven attentional capture: Evidence from equiluminant visual objects. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 20(1), 95–107. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.20.1.95

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yantis, S., Schwarzbach, J., Serences, J. T., Carlson, R. L., Steinmetz, M. A., Pekar, J. J., & Courtney, S. M. (2002). Transient neural activity in human parietal cortex during spatial attention shifts. Nature Neuroscience, 5(10), 995–1002. doi:10.1038/nn921

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yantis, S., & Serences, J. T. (2003). Cortical mechanisms of space-based and object-based attentional control. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 13(2), 187–193. doi:10.1016/S0959-4388(03)00033-3

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yeshurun, Y., & Carrasco, M. (1998). Attention improves or impairs visual performance by enhancing spatial resolution. Nature, 396(6706), 72–75. doi:10.1038/23936

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zmigrod, S., & Hommel, B. (2011). The relationship between feature binding and consciousness: Evidence from asynchronous multi-modal stimuli. Consciousness and Cognition, 20(3), 586–593. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2011.01.011

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zmigrod, S., Spapé, M., & Hommel, B. (2009). Intermodal event files: Integrating features across vision, audition, taction, and action. Psychological Research, 73(5), 674–684. doi:10.1007/s00426-008-0163-5

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This paper is based on an upcoming book by the authors (Montemayor & Haladjian 2014). Part of this research was funded by a postdoctoral fellowship in the Foundational Processes of Behavior at the University of Western Sydney (HHH).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Sciences and Psychology, University of Western Sydney (Bankstown), Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia

    Harry Haroutioun Haladjian

  2. Department of Philosophy, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Carlos Montemayor

Authors
  1. Harry Haroutioun Haladjian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Carlos Montemayor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Harry Haroutioun Haladjian.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Haladjian, H.H., Montemayor, C. On the evolution of conscious attention. Psychon Bull Rev 22, 595–613 (2015). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-014-0718-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-014-0718-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation