This book is a well-written overview of attention orienting that is heavily illustrated to make challenging theoretical concepts accessible to the reader. It is an ideal introduction to the topic both for a broad audience and for students and researchers who require a state-of-the-art overview of the field.

• 1: Introduction


• Helmholtz's Study of Attention Shifting


• Early Ideas about the Attentional Focal Point


• Overt and Covert Orienting


• 2: Studying Attention Shifts with Location Cueing


• Early Location Cueing Experiments


• Goal-Driven and Stimulus-Driven Control


• Attentional Capture by Abrupt-Onset Stimuli


• Methodological Issues


• 3: Properties of the Attentional Focal Point


• Analog and Discrete Attention Shifts


• Variable Spatial Extent of Attentional Focus


• Can Attention be Divided into Multiple Foci


• LaBergian Activity Distribution Model


• 4: Sensory and Attentional Mediation of Covert Orienting


• Sensory Analyasis and Location Cue Effects


• A Systematic Investigaiton of Multiple Location Cue Effects


• Activity Distribution Account of Multiple Location Cue Effects


• Activity Distribution Account of Other Cue Effects


• 5: Sequential Attention Shifts


• Shifting Attention to Multiple Abrupt-Onset Stimuli


• Inhibition of Return


• 6: Eye Movements and Attention Shifts


• Oculomotor System


• Eye Tracking Methodology


• Disengaged Attention and Saccades


• Relationship Between Attention and Eye Movements


• 7: Physiology of Attention Shifts


• Subcortical Attention Mechanisms


• Cortial Attention and Saccades


• Stimulus-Driven and Goal Driven Attention Shifts


• Premotor Theory Revisited


• 5: Crossmodal Attention Shifts


• Lights, Sounds, and Touches Can Cause Attention Shifts


• Crossmodal Inhibition of Return


• Multisensory Integration and Attention


• Neural Mechanisms of Crossmodal Attention Shifts


• 9: Epilogue