A neural theory of visual attention and short-term memory (NTVA)

The neural theory of visual attention and short-term memory (NTVA) proposed by Bundesen, Habekost, and Kyllingsbaek (2005) is reviewed. In NTVA,filtering (selection of objects) changes the number of cortical neurons in which an object is represented so that this number increases with the behavioural importance of the object. Another mechanism of selection, pigeonholing (selection of features), scales the level of activation in neurons coding for a particular feature. By these mechanisms, behaviourally important objects and features are likely to win the competition to become encoded into visual short-term memory (VSTM). The VSTM system is conceived as a feedback mechanism that sustains activity in the neurons that have won the attentional competition. NTVA accounts both for a wide range of attentional effects in human performance (reaction times and error rates) and a wide range of effects observed in firing rates of single cells in the primate visual system. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.