The attentive brain: insights from developmental cognitive neuroscience

Attention is a computation applied to competing environmental information to bias the selection of one option and avoid distraction from alternative inputs. Studying the development of visual attention in children can provide information on attention processes in adults.We propose a framework that embeds the development of visual attention into the emerging functionality of the hierarchical architectural organization of visual pathways, extending from the primary visual cortex to the prefrontal cortex. The cumulative development of visual areas feeding forward into higher-level regions may function as the catalyst for top-down attentional modulation of these same visual pathways.Separable visual attention mechanisms are involved in encoding visual short-term memory, maintenance of working memory and long-term recognition memory. These effects of developing attention on distinct memory processes can be dissociated at different developmental time points.Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, fragile X syndrome and autism spectrum disorder are among the many neurodevelopmental disorders associated with disruptions to visual attention. Identification of the causative mechanisms of these abnormalities, a critical step to intervention and prevention, can come only from longitudinal developmental studies.Studies have shown that genetic variability influences basic cortical organization and connections that underlie the development of visual attention, rather than predetermining attentional control itself. This insight is important for understanding why attention disruptions do not occur in isolation in neurodevelopmental disorders and are often comorbid with other disruptions to cognition and perceptual operations.The goal of attention training is the transfer of improved attentional control skills from the narrow realm of the training task to other related cognitive processes or educational outcomes. This goal is best served through a mechanistic developmental understanding of the links between visual processing, attention, memory and learning.