How We Focus on Color and Motion

“Despite the barrage of visual information the brain receives, it retains a remarkable ability to focus on important and relevant items. This fall, for example, NFL quarterbacks will be rewarded handsomely for how well they can focus their attention on color and motion - being able to quickly judge the jersey colors of teammates and opponents and where they're headed is a valuable skill. How the brain accomplishes this feat, however, has been poorly understood,” goes the Medical News Today post. “Now, University of Chicago scientists have identified a brain region that appears central to perceiving the combination of color and motion. They discovered a unique population of neurons that shift in sensitivity toward different colors and directions depending on what is being attended - the red jersey of a receiver headed toward an end zone, for example. The study, published in the journal Neuron, sheds light on a fundamental neurological process that is a key step in the biology of attention.” Read more.