{"id":29791,"date":"2025-09-23T21:17:43","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T21:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/?p=29791"},"modified":"2025-09-23T21:18:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T21:18:07","slug":"new-study-reveals-how-the-brain-prioritizes-visual-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/new-study-reveals-how-the-brain-prioritizes-visual-attention\/","title":{"rendered":"New Study Reveals How the Brain Prioritizes Visual Attention"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-blockquote uagb-block-e7eb3fc3 uagb-blockquote__skin-border uagb-blockquote__stack-img-none\"><blockquote class=\"uagb-blockquote\"><div class=\"uagb-blockquote__content\">Researchers led by the University of California, Davis, reveal the brain first targets broad categories of anticipated objects and then focuses on specifics. Findings suggest implications for treating conditions like ADHD and autism.<\/div><footer><div class=\"uagb-blockquote__author-wrap uagb-blockquote__author-at-left\"><\/div><\/footer><\/blockquote><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-content-justification-space-between is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-b0ffac9c wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\"><div style=\"font-size:16px\" class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-post-author\"><div class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-author__name\">The University Network<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-social-share uagb-social-share__outer-wrap uagb-social-share__layout-horizontal uagb-block-ee584a31\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-social-share-child uagb-ss-repeater uagb-ss__wrapper uagb-block-ec619ce7\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__link\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"facebook\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-wrap\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\"><path d=\"M504 256C504 119 393 8 256 8S8 119 8 256c0 123.8 90.69 226.4 209.3 245V327.7h-63V256h63v-54.64c0-62.15 37-96.48 93.67-96.48 27.14 0 55.52 4.84 55.52 4.84v61h-31.28c-30.8 0-40.41 19.12-40.41 38.73V256h68.78l-11 71.69h-57.78V501C413.3 482.4 504 379.8 504 256z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-social-share-child uagb-ss-repeater uagb-ss__wrapper uagb-block-32d99934\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__link\" data-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"twitter\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-wrap\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\"><path d=\"M389.2 48h70.6L305.6 224.2 487 464H345L233.7 318.6 106.5 464H35.8L200.7 275.5 26.8 48H172.4L272.9 180.9 389.2 48zM364.4 421.8h39.1L151.1 88h-42L364.4 421.8z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-social-share-child uagb-ss-repeater uagb-ss__wrapper uagb-block-1d136f14\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__link\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?url=\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"linkedin\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-wrap\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\"><path d=\"M416 32H31.9C14.3 32 0 46.5 0 64.3v383.4C0 465.5 14.3 480 31.9 480H416c17.6 0 32-14.5 32-32.3V64.3c0-17.8-14.4-32.3-32-32.3zM135.4 416H69V202.2h66.5V416zm-33.2-243c-21.3 0-38.5-17.3-38.5-38.5S80.9 96 102.2 96c21.2 0 38.5 17.3 38.5 38.5 0 21.3-17.2 38.5-38.5 38.5zm282.1 243h-66.4V312c0-24.8-.5-56.7-34.5-56.7-34.6 0-39.9 27-39.9 54.9V416h-66.4V202.2h63.7v29.2h.9c8.9-16.8 30.6-34.5 62.9-34.5 67.2 0 79.7 44.3 79.7 101.9V416z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How does our brain prioritize what we see? A recent study led by researchers at the University of California, Davis, has provided fresh insight into how the brain coordinates visual attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The findings, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jneurosci.org\/content\/early\/2025\/08\/15\/JNEUROSCI.2073-24.2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">published<\/a> in The Journal of Neuroscience, help us understand that our brains initially focus on broad features before narrowing in on specific details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur study tells us that our brains first prepare to focus attention by activating neurons representing the broad category of the anticipated object and then quickly sharpens that focus,\u201d George R. Mangun, a distinguished professor of psychology and neurology and co-director of UC Davis&#8217; Center for Mind and Brain. \u201cThis means that the brain\u2019s attention mechanisms are organized in a hierarchy such that it prepares for perceiving a stimulus by narrowing the focus of our attention over time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Clocking Brain Activity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Using a combination of electroencephalogram (EEG), eye tracking and machine-learning methods, the study investigated &#8220;anticipatory attention&#8221; \u2014 the kind of attention that gets us ready to perceive upcoming sensory events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The researchers observed 25 participants, aged 19 to 39, and recorded down-to-the-millisecond electrical activity through EEG sensors attached to the scalp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the experiment, participants were instructed to focus on colored dots moving on a screen, either by color (blue or green) or direction of movement (up or down).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe control systems involved in attention are broadly tuning the brain first, and then narrowing it down. It\u2019s like a pilot flying a plane toward Europe and then toward the end zooming in on Rotterdam and not Berlin,\u201d Mangun added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fine-Tuning Focus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The study revealed that focusing on a broad category, such as an object&#8217;s color or movement direction, took approximately 240 milliseconds. However, honing in on specific details \u2014 like identifying which specific color or direction \u2014 extended to 400 milliseconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen attention is directed to the color of the moving dots, it suppresses attention to the direction of motion, and vice versa,\u201d added lead author Sreenivasan Meyyappan, an assistant project scientist at the Center for Mind and Brain. \u201cThis broad focus of attention is then narrowed further to suppress the irrelevant colors as well, supporting processing of the specific color or motion of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Potential Implications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Understanding the subtleties of how our brain&#8217;s attention mechanisms work could have significant implications for neurological and psychological health. For example, insights from this research might aid in developing new treatment methods for attention disorders such as ADHD or autism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cUnderstanding more about how the brain focuses its attention would tell us what parts of the system are not operating properly and might lead to different perceptual or behavioral symptoms down the line, and therefore different treatment approaches\u201d Mangun added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mingzhou Ding, a distinguished professor and the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Florida, co-authored the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucdavis.edu\/news\/uc-davis-researchers-look-how-brain-prioritizes-what-we-see\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">University of California, Davis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How does our brain prioritize what we see? A recent study led by researchers at the University of California, Davis, has provided fresh insight into how the brain coordinates visual attention. The findings, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, help us understand that our brains initially focus on broad features before narrowing in on specific [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-no-separators","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[295,107],"class_list":["post-29791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","tag-uc-davis","tag-university-of-florida"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"The University Network","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/author\/funky_junkie\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"How does our brain prioritize what we see? A recent study led by researchers at the University of California, Davis, has provided fresh insight into how the brain coordinates visual attention. The findings, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, help us understand that our brains initially focus on broad features before narrowing in on specific&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29791"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29800,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29791\/revisions\/29800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}