The Evolution of Attention — Structuring Fields of Possibility: 2 Biological and Cognitive Foundations

Attention is not an abstract faculty isolated in thought; it is anchored in biological and cognitive systems that shape and constrain the possibilities of perception, action, and imagination. From neural circuits to sensorimotor integration, attention arises as a dynamic relational process, co-individuating organism, environment, and potential affordances.

Neural Mechanisms and Relational Dynamics

Neuroscience identifies networks — such as the frontoparietal and salience networks — that modulate attentional allocation. Yet these networks do not function in isolation; they interact continuously with sensory input, bodily states, and environmental contingencies, producing patterns of selection, suppression, and prioritisation. Attention thus emerges relationally, as the organism enacts selective engagement with its surroundings.

Perception-Action Coupling

Cognitive and embodied frameworks reveal that attention is inseparable from action. The visual fixation of a hunter, the exploratory movement of a child, or the manipulations of a craftsman all reflect attentional fields entwined with sensorimotor possibilities. These couplings modulate the horizon of what the organism can detect, anticipate, and actualise, creating a continuously updated map of relational affordances.

Memory, Expectation, and Anticipation

Attention is shaped by prior experience: memory traces and learned patterns bias what is noticed, while anticipatory mechanisms orient perception toward expected or desired outcomes. In this way, cognitive systems create temporal gradients of potential, structuring the field of possibility across past, present, and imagined futures.

Adaptive and Constraint-Generating Functions

Biological attention both enables and constrains. By filtering overwhelming stimuli and directing resources toward salient relations, attention stabilises experience but also precludes certain possibilities from entering the field. These constraints are not mere limitations; they scaffold higher-order capacities, allowing complex reasoning, planning, and symbolic engagement.

Implications for Relational Possibility

The study of attention’s biological and cognitive foundations underscores that possibility is scaffolded by relational mechanisms embedded in the body and brain. Understanding these mechanisms highlights the co-dependence of organism, environment, and potentiality: what can be perceived, imagined, or enacted is always shaped by the attentional dynamics that structure the field of relational engagement.

---

Modulatory voices:

• Anne Treisman: feature integration and attentional selection.

• Franciscus Donders / Helmholtz: attention as temporal modulation of perception.

• Edelman & Tononi: neuronal group selection and conscious dynamics.