Definition
Attention allows one to focus awareness and the processing capacities of the brain on objects and events relevant to one's immediate, behavioural goals, and this within the context of a central nervous system (CNS) that is constantly bombarded by a steady stream of sensory inputs. Tactile attention specifically refers to attention to somatic sensory stimuli. While this term can encompass all of the submodalities that contribute to somatic sensation (touch/pressure, position/movement, temperature, pain), most experimental studies have concentrated on characterizing sensory responsiveness to touch during manipulations of attention, and this is the focus of this essay.
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Quantitative Description
Attention can be directed either voluntarily (top-down, endogenous) or involuntarily (bottom-up, exogenous) towards a specific stimulus. Typical examples would be, respectively, searching through a hand bag to find a pen versus the attention-grabbing elicited by the onset...
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References
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© 2009 Springer-Verlag GmbH Berlin Heidelberg
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Chapman, C.E. (2009). Tactile Attention. In: Binder, M.D., Hirokawa, N., Windhorst, U. (eds) Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29678-2_5864
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29678-2_5864
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Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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