The brain has a limited capacity and therefore needs mechanisms to selectively enhance
the information most relevant to one's current behavior. We refer to these mechanisms as "…

How are some thoughts favored over others? A wealth of data at the level of single neurons
has yielded candidate brain areas and mechanisms for our best-understood model: visual …

We review the neural mechanisms that support top-down control of behaviour and suggest
that goal-directed behaviour uses two systems that work in concert. A basal ganglia-centred …

Attention can be focused volitionally by “top-down” signals derived from task demands and
automatically by “bottom-up” signals from salient stimuli. The frontal and parietal cortices are …

Working memory is thought to result from sustained neuron spiking. However, computational
models suggest complex dynamics with discrete oscillatory bursts. We analyzed local field …

Attention to a stimulus enhances both neuronal responses and gamma frequency synchrony
in visual area V4, both of which should increase the impact of attended information on …

Cognitive control guides behaviour by controlling what, when, and how information is
represented in the brain 1 . For example, attention controls sensory processing; top-down signals …

Intelligent behavior requires acquiring and following rules. Rules define how our behavior
should fit different situations. To understand its neural mechanisms, we simultaneously …

During flexible behavior, multiple brain regions encode sensory inputs, the current task, and
choices. It remains unclear how these signals evolve. We simultaneously recorded neuronal …

Attention regulates the flood of sensory information into a manageable stream, and so
understanding how attention is controlled is central to understanding cognition. Competing …