Visual temporal attention from perception to computation

Abstract

Visual attention unfolds across space and time to prioritize a subset of incoming visual information. Distinct in key ways from spatial attention, temporal attention is a growing research area with its own conceptual and mechanistic territory. Here I review key conceptual issues, data and models in the field of visual temporal attention, with an emphasis on voluntary temporal attention. I first situate voluntary temporal attention in the broader domains of temporal attention and attentional dynamics, with the goal of organizing concepts and findings related to dynamic attention. Next, I review findings that voluntary temporal attention affects visual perception in a selective fashion — prioritizing certain time points at the expense of other time points. Selectivity is a hallmark of attention and implies a limitation in computational resources that prevents sustained maximal processing of all time points. I discuss a computational model of temporal attention that captures limited resources across time and review other models of attentional dynamics. Finally, I discuss productive future directions for the study of temporal attention. Visual temporal attention involves the prioritization of certain points in time at the expense of others. In this Review, Denison synthesizes experimental results and computational models of voluntary temporal attention and distinguishes it from related phenomena.