The Allocation of Attention to Learning of Goal-Directed Actions: A Cognitive Neuroscience Framework Focusing on the Basal Ganglia

The present paper builds on the idea that attention is largely in service of our actions. A framework and model which captures the allocation of attention for learning of goal-directed actions is proposed and developed. This framework highlights an evolutionary model based on the notion that rudimentary functions of the basal ganglia have become embedded into increasingly higher levels of networks which all contribute to adaptive learning. Supporting the proposed model, background literature is presented alongside key evidence based on experimental studies in the so-called “split-brain” (surgically divided cerebral hemispheres), and selected evidence from related areas of research. Although overlap with other existing findings and models is acknowledged, the proposed framework is an original synthesis of cognitive experimental findings with supporting evidence of a neural system and a carefully formulated model of attention. It is the hope that this new synthesis will be informative in fields of cognition and other fields of brain sciences and will lead to new avenues for experimentation across domains.