Abstract: The N2pc component is closely associated with spatially selective attention and is known to reflect the deployment of spatial attention to task-relevant stimuli. Studies investigating the properties of N2pc mainly focused on, but not limited to, its theoretical explanations, methods of measurement, neural sources, and influencing factors. The experimental paradigms of N2pc primarily consist of visual search and visual short-term memory search. Studies using N2pc as a tool could be divided into two aspects. One was the basic studies that investigated the relevant processing of visual spatial attention. A second centered more on applied research, which was also closely related to the processing of visual spatial attention. The future N2pc studies should further investigate its properties and promote both basic and applied research.

Key words: spatial attention, N2pc, spatial filtering theory, target enhancement theory