The Neural Basis of Attention: A Festschrift in Honor of Robert Rafal

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At any given instance, there is typically far more information in the world than our visual systems can handle. For example, while reading this sentence, only a small proportion of the letters and words are processed at any given time. Although seemingly simple, the process of selectively attending to some information while ignoring other information requires the orchestration of many different brain areas, each of which contributes differentially towards this feat. This workshop will bring together international experts to discuss how the human brain focuses attention. In addition to covering historical and contemporary perspectives on the neural basis of attention, speakers will pay special tribute to the substantial contributions and influences of Professor Robert Rafal, a cognitive and behavioral neurologist whose career focused on better understanding the neural underpinnings of attention, consciousness, eye movements, and perception. This award will primarily fund travel for deserving students and early career stage researchers in the field and publications costs associated with producing a special edited volume from this meeting.The meeting will take place on March 22-23, 2018 in the Segal Theater of The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. The talks and edited volume will highlight some of the important mainstay principles of attention research, as well as ones that have been substantially revised or overturned. Furthermore, unlike most other conferences and workshops, which tend to schedule more established researchers as speakers, this workshop will include speakers of varying experiences and ages, ranging from current and recent students to established senior researchers. Speakers will include several prominent female speakers, which should be especially inspiring for the younger female researchers and attendees. Additionally, specific efforts will be made to include a diverse group of student attendees, including invitations to underrepresented minority high school students and undergraduates in the STEM fields at CUNY, a highly diverse public institution in New York City. The student attendees should greatly benefit from the knowledge to be gained from attending this workshop and may decide to pursue a research or academic career focusing on better understanding the neural basis of attention.