ABSTRACT

Directing attention may feel like pointing a spotlight, but what is happening in the brain and how does attention relate to consciousness? Two broad types of attention are controlled by different brain systems: the dorsal (voluntary) and ventral (involuntary) attention systems. Theories of attention are reviewed, including bottleneck or filter theories, early- and late-selection theories, premotor theory, attention as preparation for action, biased competition theory, and theories treating short-term memory as a resource to be competed for. In ‘attention schema theory’, consciousness is an organism’s internal model of attention, so how does attention relate to consciousness? We consider five possibilities: 1) consciousness depends on attention, 2) attention depends on consciousness, 3) consciousness and attention are correlated but not causally connected, 4) there is no link between the two, and 5) both are illusory.

Meditation and mindfulness are ways of training the attention. We consider the basic principles, including open and concentrative meditation, and mindfulness in daily life. Research on both short- and long-term practice is reviewed, including effects on the ‘default mode network’. Training attention clearly changes consciousness, but the relationship between the two remains an open question.