Abstract:  Attentional selection does not only exist in the visual processing, but also points to a number of short-stored memory representations. At the behavioral level, both types of attentional mechanisms exert a facilitatory effect on the task performance. Besides, this facilitatory effect is stable across different patterns of attentional distribution. At the neural level, on the one hand, due to the fact that the encoding and short-term storage of the visual information are mainly processed in the occipital region (V1~V4) topologically related to retina, these regions can thus serve as a valid platform for the operation of the two types of attentional selection; on the other hand, the controlling signal from dorsal fronto-parietal network could modulate the selective attention processing in the visual cortex in a top-down manner, which consequently facilitates the priority of the target processing. These new evidence indicating that both types of attentional selection may arise from a unified control mechanism. At the same time, the neural frameworks described in this article also provide a new perspective for re-understanding of the relationship between attention and visual working memory.

Key words: attentional selection, dorsal fronto-parietal network, visual cortex, internal attention, perceptual attention