Abstract

Planning and execution of goal-directed actions are closely related to visual attention. This chapter gives an overview of research on this relationship, focusing on the role of attention in the preparation of eye movements, manual reaching, and grasping. The studies suggest that major functions of attention during motor planning are to select the spatial goals of the movement, and to prioritize those visual features that are important for the action. For complex movements involving more than a single spatial location, it seems that action preparation comes along with a temporally changing ‘attentional landscape’ which includes multiple foci of attention.