This book delineates cerebral mechanisms of attention in humans as they presently appear in the light of data obtained by using various modern brain-research techniques. While the book focuses primarily on the ways humans select environmental information, the selectivity manifest in human thinking, consciousness, and motor behavior is also dealt with in the framework of an expanded attention concept. By combining the most recent evidence from diverse fields of human brain research and relating these physiological data to achievements of modern cognitive psychology, the author has developed an integrative view of human information processing. This theory concentrates on mechanisms of attentional selection and on the automatic processing which provides a basis for the selective processes.
...worth buying....it is comprehensive, coherent and accessible....a book that reads easily....The main themes are readily accessible, so that the general reader could enjoy this book as much as could a specialist in the field.
—Memory
Although the book in places contains quite detailed descriptions of experimental data, it is written in a pleasant and enthusiastic way. Also, amusing anectodal elements can be found in the book.
—Acta Psychologica
In addition to providing a unique insight into how event-related potentials may be used to unravel the intricacies of the brain, the book also provides an excellent summary of some of the more recent brain-imaging techniques, including positron emission tomography (PET), functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG)....Näätänen has a unique ability to extract important studies from the myriad of empirical reports and put things into perspective, emerging with new theoretical insights. I do not hesitate to pronounce this the most important textbook on attention and brain function, and recommend it to anyone interested in cognitive neuroscience, whether a beginner or advanced researcher.
—European Journal of Cognitive Psychology
...presents original psychophysiological research based on computerized techniques of recording and evaluating event-related brain potentials. The application of multichannel magnetoencephalography greatly contributes to exact localization of corresponding neuronal generators responsible for attention. The book contains a bulk of information concerning data obtained by cognitive psychology in the area of study of attention. These results are closely linked with neurophysiological investigation of attention.
—E.N. Sokolov
From the Foreword
