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Controlled processes in human consciousness represent high-alert mental states where individuals deliberately focus their attention on achieving specific goals. Controlled processes can be seen in situations like mastering new technology, where a person might become so absorbed that they ignore surrounding distractions. Such processes involve selective attention, requiring one to concentrate on particular elements of experience while disregarding others. These are governed by executive...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 15, 2025

Measurement of Neurophysiological Signals of Ignoring and Attending Processes in Attention Control
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How the brain shifts between external and internal attention.

Anna C Nobre1, Daniela Gresch2

  • 1Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510, USA; Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.

Neuron
|July 17, 2025
PubMed
Summary

The brain seamlessly shifts attention between external sensory input and internal thoughts. This perspective explores how the brain manages these attention shifts for adaptive behavior.

Keywords:
brain networksexecutive controlhippocampusmind wanderingperceptionprefrontal cortextask switchingvisual attentionworking memory

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology

Background:

  • The brain must focus on relevant information to guide adaptive behavior.
  • Mechanisms for selective attention to external sensory signals have been studied for decades.
  • Recent research explores attention within internal representations, but everyday behavior involves both external and internal attention.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how the brain shifts attention between external sensory information and internal mental content.
  • To compare selective external and internal attention mechanisms.
  • To explore hypotheses, brain areas, and mechanisms involved in attention shifts between domains.

Main Methods:

  • This perspective reviews existing literature and theoretical frameworks.
  • It discusses similarities and differences between external and internal attention.
  • It examines experimental studies comparing attention shifts within and between domains.

Main Results:

  • Everyday behavior requires seamless shifts between attending to external stimuli and internal thoughts.
  • Competing hypotheses exist regarding the principles governing shifts between external and internal attention.
  • Limited experimental data currently exists for comparing attention shifts between domains versus within domains.

Conclusions:

  • Understanding attention shifts between external and internal domains is crucial for explaining adaptive behavior.
  • Further experimental research is needed to constrain theoretical and computational models of attention.
  • Open questions are proposed to guide future investigations into the neural mechanisms of attention shifts.