Neurobiology of attention and automaticity

Research in the field of attention and automaticity examines the nature of processing information with and without attention. Behavioral results show automatic processing is a continuous effect that is task specific and is affected by top-down influences. Neurobiological data show that differential attentional processing occurs in a distributed network, where initial performance is more strongly influenced by more anterior cortical structures. Recent models of attentional and autonomic processing directly incorporate physiological constraints and predict practice effects as a result of a variety of competing mechanisms.