ABSTRACT
It has become clear in recent years that attention is not a unitary phenomenon, but rather that it can be dissociated into a variety of components or systems. To date, most of the evidence in support of this multiple system view has come from studies in which the neural basis of attention was studied in adult patients with brain damage, positron-emission tomography (PET) scanning studies, and lesion studies in the nonhuman primate (see chapter 8, this volume, for review). In this chapter evidence from a different approach to studying the neural basis of attention is reviewed: the investigation of how the postnatal development of cortical structures and pathways give rise to advances in visual attention in human infants. As well as providing converging evidence for some of the conclusions drawn from the other approaches to investigating the neural basis of attention, the neurodevelopmental approach outlined in this chapter provides some new insights and perspectives on the adult literature.
