Orienting of Attention

• 1. Introduction ; Helmholtz's Study of Attention Shifting ; Early Ideas about the Attentional Focal Point ; Overt and Covert Orienting ; 2. Studying Attention Shifts with Location Cueing ; Early Location Cueing Experiments ; Goal-Driven and Stimulus-Driven Control ; Attentional Capture by Abrupt-Onset Stimuli ; Methodological Issues ; 3. Properties of the Attentional Focal Point ; Analog and Discrete Attention Shifts ; Variable Spatial Extent of Attentional Focus ; Can Attention be Divided into Multiple Foci ; LaBergian Activity Distribution Model ; 4. Sensory and Attentional Mediation of Covert Orienting ; Sensory Analyasis and Location Cue Effects ; A Systematic Investigaiton of Multiple Location Cue Effects ; Activity Distribution Account of Multiple Location Cue Effects ; Activity Distribution Account of Other Cue Effects ; 5. Sequential Attention Shifts ; Shifting Attention to Multiple Abrupt-Onset Stimuli ; Inhibition of Return ; 6. Eye Movements and Attention Shifts ; Oculomotor System ; Eye Tracking Methodology ; Disengaged Attention and Saccades ; Relationship Between Attention and Eye Movements ; 7. Physiology of Attention Shifts ; Subcortical Attention Mechanisms ; Cortial Attention and Saccades ; Stimulus-Driven and Goal Driven Attention Shifts ; Premotor Theory Revisited ; 5. Crossmodal Attention Shifts ; Lights, Sounds, and Touches Can Cause Attention Shifts ; Crossmodal Inhibition of Return ; Multisensory Integration and Attention ; Neural Mechanisms of Crossmodal Attention Shifts ; 9. Epilogue

I very much enjoyed reading this excellent and timely book on orienting of attention. After just over 100 years of scientific research on this theme, it offers a comprehensive and up-to-date summary - indeed, a synthesis - of what we currently know, and do not yet know, about visuo-spatial attention. To my mind, this is the only book to provide such a systematic, methodologically and conceptually coherent survey - from a multi-disciplinary perspective - of this exciting field of investigation. Clearly, a lot of thought has gone into the writing - and the outcome is a truly excellent treatise. In summary, I felt both intellectually enriched and inspired by this excellently presented and insightful book - which will come to be seen as a milestone in the field.