Introduction

The empirical study of human brain function has advanced dramatically since the mid-1990s due to the advent of hemodynamic neuroimaging (e.g., Posner & Raichle, 1994). Methods such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) hold the promise that variations in regional cerebral blood flow that are correlated with cognitive activity can be indexed with millimeter-level spatial resolution (e.g., Duong et al., 2001). In this chapter, we examine the use of these neuroimaging methods in relation to one of the central components of human cognition—selective attention.

We begin by introducing one form of selective visual attention, spatial attention, and then detail the role neuroimaging has played in furthering our understanding both of how selective attention functions at the cognitive level, and of how it is implemented at the neural level. In the second section of the chapter, we turn to a discussion of the ongoing efforts of attention researchers to understand the control of selective attention in terms of distributed neural networks that are composed of specific regions of the posterior parietal cortex and prefrontal cortex. In the conclusion of the chapter, we discuss how cutting-edge studies are investigating the role of attention in guiding interactions with the environment and a new research framework, called cognitive ethology, for studying the role of attention in the real world.