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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Does anyone know who first used the terms "top-down" versus "bottom-up" for attention? Or if endogenous versus exogenous came first, who used that first? Or for any other term. A reference would be awesome.

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

I'm so sorry not to be at this event in person, but this is a great workshop, where philosophers of perception and vision scientists meet in dialog. This afternoon at 1:15pm EST. Check out the line-up and RSVP for on-line attendance. www.phivis.org

phivis.org

Home | phiVis

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

An upcoming philosophy of neuroscience conference CFP. The organizers strongly encourage submissions from neuroscientists doing population recording, & in particular short talks that draw on ongoing research to address the theoretical questions highlighted in the CFP: philevents.org/event/show/1...

philevents.org

A Population Doctrine in Neuroscience Workshop

A Population Doctrine in Neuroscience Workshop (Call for Papers) We are pleased to announce an interdisciplinary 2-day workshop held at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsb...

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Thanks to Taylor Cyr and Matt Flummer for chatting about intention & memory. We talk about intention as memory & intending as remembering, forgetting what we're doing when we cross a threshold, and why research on working memory is research on intention. open.spotify.com/episode/7gK0...

open.spotify.com

Episode 97: Intention and Memory with Wayne Wu

The Free Will Show · Episode

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

Here's my commentary on Ruth Rosenholtz's BBS article on attention in crisis. I bring out a different (familiar) view of what the crisis is and suggest one way to ban attention from cog neuro: stop fallaciously identifying attention w/ a mechanism. Attention is the explanandum. bit.ly/WuCRISIS-BBS

bit.ly

Wu. Commentary on Rosenholtz BBS .pdf

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

I'm writing lecture notes reading a certain influential paper whose general point I agree with...so I might put up random comments on it or related questions. Who came up with top-down vs bottom-up? What architecture did they have in mind to ground a direction? What about lateral modulation?

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

A not helpful concept in the theory of attention: *attentional control* as in e.g., top-down attentional control. 1. Is it a type of control *of* attention? 2. Is it attention a controller *of*...? Two different psychological phenomena, collapsed in an unhelpful, all-too-common, conceptualization.

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Reposted by Wayne Wu

Kirsten Adam @kirsten-adam.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

I made a starter pack to follow your favorite WomWoMs (Women of Working Memory) go.bsky.app/78fcoth You can ping me to be added!

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

I rewrote Attention (2nd edition) in to engage scientists AND philosophers on attention. I am an optimist not skeptic: we deeply understand attention. I show why (and how) and discuss philosophical consequences. The book is currently discounted & due in late Dec. www.routledge.com/Attention/Wu...

routledge.com

Attention

Wayne Wu’s Attention was the first book to provide a systematic overview and assessment of different empirical and philosophical works on attention. In this revised and expanded second edition Wu disc...

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 31/10/2024

Hello bksy. Been a while. Those interested in attention and want a philosophical and optimistic take on the science and the philosophy, this might be of interest: www.routledge.com/Attention/Wu...

routledge.com

Attention

Wayne Wu’s Attention was the first book to provide a systematic overview and assessment of different empirical and philosophical work on attention. In this revised and expanded second edition Wu discu...

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 03/04/2024

1st 2 chapters of my book still free from Oxford UP. The book is expensive so if you know someone who would be interested in an emiprical-philosophical account of agency, attention and their relation, point them to the free download (soon gone). Please repost: academic.oup.com/book/46088?s...

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 22/03/2024

Does attention gates consciousness? Come to discussion in 20 minutes links below. Some great work. I will critically discuss. Neural Mechanisms Online (website) Friday 22 March 2024 Webinar h16-18 CET / h15-17 GMT (check your local time here) Join at: unito.webex.com/unito-en/j.p...

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 12/03/2024

Um, the ENTIRE book seems to be available for free right now. This is my book, Movements of the Mind, a theory of agency, attention and intention. academic.oup.com/book/46088?s... Come to philosophyofbrains.com/2024/03/11/w... to discuss

academic.oup.com

Movements of the Mind: A Theory of Attention, Intention and Action

Abstract. Movements of the Mind explains what it is to be an agent. Focusing on mental agency, the book’s eponymous topic, it investigates an agent’s doing thin

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 05/03/2024

Hard to feel that this matters much given what's happening in the world...but if you need a break and want to hear about the nature of agency and mental action I'll be blogging about my book at brainsblog next Monday (chp 1 will be available). philosophyofbrains.com academic.oup.com/book/46088?s...

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 15/02/2024

I've helped organize the following event with Jackie Gottlieb from Columbia and Raphael Rosenberg, an art historian from Uni Wien at the Italian Academy at Columbia. Please come if you can! Do register (we need a head count)! italianacademy.columbia.edu/events/atten...

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 16/01/2024

Any suggestions for a gentle introduction to the biology of habits and of addiction? Accessible, with some guideance, to undergraduates with little biology.

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 15/01/2024

Lots of great books available at OUPPhilosophy at a substantial discount. Want to understand what agency is, the role of attention, intention and memory and how the mind moves, tied to the neurobiology? Apply 40% discount EXAPAE24 to this book: global.oup.com/academic/pro...

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 20/12/2023

Those who find the TiCS article, “We know what attention is!” compelling might look at how the central idea helps explain what it is to be an agent, to have an intention, and working memory as attention among other topics. Sorry no free access :( academic.oup.com/book/46088?s...

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 19/12/2023

Let's get rid of confusion by a common anchor (or shall I say...conception?). Our experimental methodology does this for us as common paradigms converge on the same functional conception of attention. If we start there, we all start in the same place. And, we're already there.

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 16/12/2023

My article, "We know what attention is!" is out in @TrendsCognSci . it argues that our experimental methodology commits us to a simple functional conception of attention. In that sense, we agree on and know what attention is. I will thread about it later. authors.elsevier.com/a/1iGCs4sIRv...

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Wayne Wu @attninaction.bsky.social · 28/09/2023

All the heat wrt consciousness directed at theories of ignition. The central question is what makes a state conscious *versus not*. Ok, that’s 1 question. I think the most informative work on consciousness concerns: Why do we experience X versus Y? We know a lot about that, thank you cog sci.

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