EPS Mid-Career Award 2014

Eimer, Martin · 2015 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2015.1065283

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This review article by Martin Eimer examines the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying the control of attention during visual search, specifically when target locations are uncertain. The paper addresses how observers detect and recognize known targets among distractors by proposing a four-phase model of visual search: preparation, guidance, selection, and recognition. This framework characterizes search not as a series of discrete stages, but as a continuous process where selective attention emerges gradually through spatially specific and temporally sustained biases in cortical maps. The analysis synthesizes evidence from behavioral experiments, single-unit recordings in monkeys, and human neuroimaging (fMRI and ERP) studies. The first phase, preparation, involves activating "attentional templates" in visual working memory. The paper evaluates the "sensory recruitment" model, which posits that visual cortex maintains these templates, against the challenge that visual cortical representations are typically position-dependent. Since search templates must operate globally across unknown locations, the author suggests they may be position-independent representations found in prefrontal cortex or potentially in visual cortex. The second phase, guidance, relies on feature-based attention. Evidence from monkey and human studies demonstrates that task-relevant features enhance neural processing in a spatially global manner across the entire visual field, biasing early parallel processing toward target-matching objects. The findings indicate that attentional templates established during preparation directly influence guidance by creating global biases that highlight potential targets regardless of their location. This challenges traditional two-stage models of perception, which assume an initial pre-attentive stage driven solely by bottom-up salience. Instead, the paper argues that top-down goal-dependent modulations affect early visual processing immediately upon input arrival. The significance of this work lies in redefining the neural implementation of visual search. It highlights the critical role of position-invariant representations and spatially global feature-based attention in facilitating efficient target detection. By linking cognitive models like Guided Search with neural data, the review provides a comprehensive account of how the brain prioritizes task-relevant information in complex visual environments, emphasizing the continuous and interactive nature of attentional control.

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-25; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• visual search
• attention selective divided
• inattentional change blindness