Control of Attention by the Motor System: A Motor Bias Theory of Attention

Humans must process an overwhelming amount of visual information with limited cognitive resources. Spatial attention allows us to select the relevant information. A metaphor for attention is that of a spotlight; only things within the 'beam' of attention are processed. A widely held view is that control of the spotlight is implemented by the motor system. If we wish to attend to something, we plan (but don't necessarily execute) an action that would orient the eyes or hands to that thing. This 'Premotor' theory of attention has been very influential, but does not explain the full range of empirical data. This project will test a new Motor Bias theory of attention which offers a new explanation of the relationship between motor control and attention. Specifically, it is argued that movement preparation influences attention in a stochastic fashion, such that attention is more likely to be allocated to movement goals when (a) the same goal is being selected by more than one effector system, (b) the movement is close to being initiated and (c) the organism is confident that the movement will reliably acquire the desired target. The project aims to precisely characterise the interaction between attention and the motor system by testing these principles. Understanding the psychology of attention will also inform the development of novel rehabilitation techniques for patients with neuropsychological deficits of attention.

There are a number of ways in which we plan to disseminate our findings to different groups. To engage with the broad range of scientists and practitioners interested in attention and the motor system we plan to host a research workshop at the end of the project during which we will set out our MBTA. This workshop will include a specific session dedicated to engaging school pupils and undergraduates with our research. We will also develop a webpage to report on our progress, and provide regular updates on our research via social media (e.g. twitter.com/AttentionLab). These updates will be written to be accessible to the general public, and will not require any specialist knowledge. To engage with the broader public the results of our project will be described as part of the PIs and the post-doc's normal public engagement activities (i.e. talks and open days aimed at schoolchildren and events such as café scientifique). The research will also be publicised through mainstream media outlets by the Durham University media relations team. We will engage with the academic community by publishing the results of our project in leading scientific journals and by presenting our results at scientific meetings (e.g. meetings of learned societies such as the Experimental Psychology Society) and international scientific conferences (European Conference on Visual Perception, Society for Neuroscience, Vision Science Society).