Directingorienting

Directingorienting is a term used in cognitive science to describe the integrated control of attention that coordinates directing toward task goals with orienting toward environmental stimuli. It reflects the interaction of top-down control, which maintains goals and expectations, with bottom-up salience-driven shifts in attention. The concept is used to explain how people select information, move attention across space, and reallocate resources over time to support behavior.

Behaviorally, directingorienting is studied with cueing paradigms that distinguish endogenous (voluntary) directing from exogenous (stimulus-driven) orienting, and with tasks that require rapid shifts of attention. Neural evidence implicates a dorsal attention network (including the frontal eye fields and intraparietal sulcus) in goal-directed directing, and a ventral network (such as the temporoparietal junction and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex) in reorienting to unexpected stimuli. Subcortical structures like the superior colliculus and pulvinar contribute to rapid orienting, often in concert with eye movements.

Researchers measure directingorienting with reaction-time indices, accuracy in cueing tasks, eye-tracking, and neuroimaging. The concept informs studies of attention in developmental, aging, and clinical populations, including attention disorders, brain injury, and neglect, where the coordination of directing and orienting may be impaired. In applied settings, it informs user-interface design, education, and safety-critical tasks that require rapid and accurate allocation of attention.