Attention in a Social World

Posner views attention as an organ system with its own functional anatomy, circuitry, and cellular structure. This approach promises to sketch out the evolutionary and developmental basis of a principle brain mechanism of voluntary control, thus paving the road toward an understanding of how genetics and culture shape control systems... For those familiar with Posners instrumental contributions, this little book may be old news, but this volume makes his revolutionary ideas and trailblazing science available to a wide and uninitiated readership...Posners exposition presents a delightful read and provides important insights and experimental sensibilities that many curious minds would appreciate. We recommend this book wholeheartedly. * Amir Raz and Rebecca Oksenhendler for PsycCritiques, July 2013 *
At last, a book on attention that considers what attention is, what attention does, what brain systems support and undertake attention process, along with how we develop, modify and lose those faculties throughout life... This excellent, inexpensive little book is jam-packed full of insightful applied, historic and current research in attention. It is relevant to anyone who wants to understand why and how we pay attention, how we develop our attention systems, and what might be awry in social, behaviousral and clinical settings. I will be recommending students to read this and have already asked for two copies for our library and encouraged several colleagues to have a look also. * Psychology Learning and Teaching, August 2013 *