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Abstract:
Selective visual attention relies on dynamic restructuring of cortical information flow in order to ensure prioritized neuronal communication between those neuronal groups conveying information about behav-iorally relevant information while reducing the influence from groups encoding irrelevant and distracting information. Electrophysiological evidence suggests that such selective neuronal communication is instantiated and sustained through selective neuronal synchronization of rhythmic activity at fast and slow temporal scales within and between neuronal groups processing the attentional-relevant visual information: Attention-ally modulated synchronization patterns (1) evolve rapidly, (2) are evident even before sensory inputs arrive, (3) follow closely subjective readiness to process information in time, (4) can be sustained for prolonged time periods, and (5) convey specific information about perceptually selected sensory features as well as motor plans. The empirical survey of these functional signatures of selective synchronization patterns is complemented by recent insights about the mechanistic origins of rhythmic synchronization at micro-and macroscales of cortical neuronal processing, suggesting that selective attention is subserved by precise neuronal synchronization that is selective in space, time, and frequency.
