Attention-Based Learning

Abstract

There is more to attention than merely turning up the volume knob for particular sensory experiences. Attention is really a time-structured episode that includes both the initial prioritization of specific information and the subsequent learning process that accompanies this prioritization. In fact the relationship between attention and learning is so intimate that in general we only learn from the particular information which we attend to. Non-attended information is experienced, but not necessarily learned, and the more frequently we attend to something the more likely we are to learn it. Conversely, it is clear that deficits in attention can lead to deficits in learning. We can therefore expect that the molecular mechanisms facilitating the initiation of attention might be closely related to mechanisms that support attention-based learning.