How the brain filters out noise and pays attention to what's important

Perhaps one of the most important parts of paying attention is filtering out the "noise" that isn't important. A new study published in Nature by researchers at Rush University in Chicago have figured out how the brain does this on a cellular level. The scientists watched the communication between neurons as monkeys completed a visual spatial attention task. The monkeys were able to pay attention by placing more importance on input from some neurons relative to others. This effectively turned up the volume on the important stimuli. The scientists now want to test this in individuals who have attention problems and determine whether or how this process is altered in these people.

Read more: www.geiselmed.dartmouth.edu/news/2013/06/27_briggs/
Journal article: Attention enhances synaptic efficacy and the signal-to-noise ratio in neural circuits. Nature, 2013. doi:10.1038/nature12276.
For more information about this study, please visit http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12276.htm. 

Image credit: AGrinberg/Flickr