The brain pathway that orients visual attention to a stimulus is referred to as the orienting system. There are two main types of visual orientations, ''covert (exogenous)'' which occurs when a salient environmental change causes a shift in attention and ''overt (endogenous)'' which occurs when the individual makes a conscious decision to orient attention to a stimuli During a covert orientation of attention, the individual does not physically move, and during an overt orientation of attention the individual's eyes and head physically move in the direction of the stimulus. Information acquired through covert and overt visual orientations travels through the norepinephrine system, indirectly effecting the ventral visual pathway. The four specific brain regions involved in this process are the

frontal eye field The frontal eye fields (FEF) are a region located in the frontal cortex, more specifically in Brodmann area 8 or BA8, of the primate brain. In humans, it can be more accurately said to lie in a region around the intersection of the middle front ...

, the

temporoparietal junction The temporoparietal junction (TPJ) is an area of the brain where the temporal and parietal lobes meet, at the posterior end of the lateral sulcus (Sylvian fissure). The TPJ incorporates information from the thalamus and the limbic system as wel ...

, the pulvinar, and the superior colliculus. The

is involved in goal-driven eye movements and can inhibit stimulus driven eye movements. The

appears to be involved location-cueing tasks, and individuals with lesions in this area have difficulty with attentional reorienting. The pulvinar is located posterior to the thalamus and its role in the orientating system is still being researched; however it is thought to be involved in covert orienting. Finally, the superior colliculus provides information about the location of the stimuli to which attention is directed.

References

Visual system Central nervous system Attention {{Neuroscience-stub