From attention to goal directed behavior

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"In addition to asking what attention actually is, decomposing and analyzing its varieties or revealing its neurobiological mechanisms, a full-fledged theory of attention must consider its workings in the context of motivated, goal-directed and environmentally constrained organisms. The essays compiled in this volume are aimed at making a contribution towards this end. Specifically, the main conclusion that can be drawn is that fundamental links exist between attention and two key processes that are crucial for adapted conduct: goal-directed behavior and cognitive control. Importantly, both the mechanisms underlying these processes, and the actual relations that exist between them, can and must be explored at multiple levels, including neurodynamical, neurochemical, evolutionary and clinical. The reader will find here an invitation to explore these numerous connections, through a selection of contributions that range from basic mechanisms of attention at the neuronal level to developmental aspects of cognitive control and its impairments."--Jacket.