There are many contradictions in the articles on the role of the various parts of the brain in the formation of attention. There is a hypothesis about the involvement of mirror neurons. How does the structure of the brain related to each other? If the articles are listed in the attachments you are not familiar, please read. A series of questions will get an answer.

Michael Posner and Maurizio Corbetta are two giants in the neuroscience and neuroimaging of attention.  One of their review articles would serve you well. e.g. 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22227132

or

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11994752

Another paradigm for understanding selective attention is the heuristic self-locus. You can find out more about it if you look at The Retinoid System and Visual Space in "Where Am I? Redux", and "Self-Directed Learning in a Complex Environment" on my RG page.

There are multiple lines of attention research. One aims at cortical mechanisms of attention: how cortical processing changes in attended versus unattended conditions (people researching this include John Maunsell, Alexander Thiele, Anita Disney). Here's a good review:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21829219

Another line of research approaches attention from human psychophysics and EEG recordings. Many of these papers concern temporal focus: how temporal expectations influence the allocation of attention and modify behavior and brain states. See e.g. this paper and references therein:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=nobre+hazards+of+time

Thirdly, attention is orchestrated by subcortical centers including the basal forebrain and the thalamus. This research is mostly on rodents performing attention demanding tasks; a comprehensive review:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9046571

There are plenty of approaches on neuroscience attention of cognitive dysfunction. Our other colleagues have suggested some valuable references. In this context you can consult the following published work that might give you a lot of clues:

PMID: 18495087

Ranganath et al. 2008; Biological Psychiatry 64 : 18-25.

Furthermore, you can include the hippocampus and striatum areas also which have important focus related with attention and memory functions. Neuron studies in dentate gyrus, CA1 and CA2 and hilus areas are interesting cites for exploring the mechanisms.

By the way what are your subjects of investigations? It depends on that also.

There are a number of models of attention, the most popular one of years past was the spotlight model which was a strong attention model. I suggest that new research seems to favor a weak attention model where there are many layers of attention all working together.

Thank you Dr. Bjork. The papers that you suggest clarifies the complex regulation of attention between frontal and parietal cortex. I am not sure about the understandign of attention as a specific - area task. Attention characterized wit EEG could be a more valuable approach related with our common understanding of this cognitive capabilitu. Of course, the weak attention approach could be an interesting model that must be considered. 

Thank you Dr. Ahmad for your suggestions about the relationship of attention and memory. We are researching on the relationship between the Electrodermal Activity and attention with audiovisual stimulus, trying to use validate tools from psychology. The central problem is to stablish a clear relation between an anatomical area and attention for further investigation on fMRI.  

Hi Roberto, are you looking at the moments of increased peaks in the EDA, or use tonic changes?

I am afraid that by using EDA you may not have a clear and direct relationship between attention and BOLD. But I think what you are trying to do is to have an implicit measure of attention by using EDA as dependent measure, is that right?  Then, you need to look at the literature about how EDA and BOLD are related first (even without considering attention related changes on EDA), then examine whether those brain areas should be active at the time of increased external attention in your paradigm. 

One very important thing that you need to consider is that physiological responses have corresponding effects on BOLD, and many people think that these are noise.

Dear Roberto,

Let me offer you my humble thoughts on the subject after long study and research experience on it in human and nonhuman primates:

1. Attention is the cognitive function that makes optimum use of limited neural resources for the most efficient use of information in perception, memory, intelligence, and language.

2. It has two major components served by different but interconnected neural structures: (a) an inclusionary component that coincides with what is commonly called the "focus of attention"; and an exclusionary component that serves to inhibit or suppress what is distractive, irrelevant or inefficient.

3. Attention and its two components has very deep biological roots, because all nervous systems and their parts, at all levels of the nerve axis, have certain capabilities and limitations.

4. Thus, for example, the knee reflex is a precursor of attention, because it involves the contraction of extensor muscles and the concomitant relaxation of flexor muscles. Or, on the sensory side, take the retina.  Ganglion cells in the center of their visual receptive field are excited by light on it, whereas those in the periphery are inhibited.  In both cases, sensory and motor, the push-pull of excitation and inhibition has the effect of optimizing contrast and efficiency.

5.  Likewise, at the cognitive--cortical--level, a push-pull of excitation and inhibition can be observed during cognitive performance between areas in both perceptual and executive cortex, as well as as in association areas.

6.  The interplay of the two components of attention can be most vividly demonstrated in executive (prefrontal) cortex.  At its lowest hierarchical level, in the frontal eye and head fields, the push-pull of excitation-inhibition takes control of eye and head movements to ensure eye-fixation and audio-location.

7.  At higher prefrontal levels, attention control (part of cognitive control) serves the higher cognitive functions, facilitating what is in the focus of attention and inhibiting surrounding sensory or internal "noise," interference and irrelevance.

8. There, at cortical levels, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is in charge of the inclusionary aspect of attention (focus), whereas the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex is in charge of the exclusionary one (inhibitory control).

9. This applies even to the highest form of attention, which is working memory; indeed working memory is not another system or form of memory.  It is attention focused on an internal representation for a prospective action, choice or decision.

10.  None of this excludes subcortical areas from attention; far from it.  Visual attention, for example, can be increased by mild electrical stimulation of the mesencephalic reticular formation (Fuster, Science,1958).  Limbic influences enhance attention in neocortex by conveying emotional impact to perception and memory.

11.  ¿Can we attend to several things at the same time ("in parallel")?  Yes we can, but not with the same efficiency to all.  The most efficient attention is serial, or at most "by multiplexing."

12.  As with any cognitive function, when attention activates a certain area or areas beyond a certain level, we are conscious of the function and its content.  But consciousness, an almost obligatory companion of attention, is not a cognitive function per se, but a phenomenon (subjective awareness) of a shifting focus of high cortical network activation.

I hope these thoughts are helpful, at least as working hypotheses. 

Cheers, 

Joaquín

Publication: J.M. Fuster.  The Prefrontal Cortex (5th edition). Elsevier, 2015.