%A Huettig,Falk %A Mishra,Ramesh %A Olivers,Christian %D 2012 %J Frontiers in Psychology %C %F %G English %K Attention,Eye Movements,Language,Memory,Vision %Q %R 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00394 %W %L %M %P %7 %8 2012-January-09 %9 Review %+ Dr Falk Huettig,Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics,Nijmegen,Netherlands,falk.huettig@mpi.nl %# %! Interaction of language, vision, attention, & memory %* %< %T Mechanisms and Representations of Language-Mediated Visual Attention %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00394 %V 2 %0 JOURNAL ARTICLE %@ 1664-1078 %X The experimental investigation of language-mediated visual attention is a promising way to study the interaction of the cognitive systems involved in language, vision, attention, and memory. Here we highlight four challenges for a mechanistic account of this oculomotor behavior: the levels of representation at which language-derived and vision-derived representations are integrated; attentional mechanisms; types of memory; and the degree of individual and group differences. Central points in our discussion are (a) the possibility that local microcircuitries involving feedforward and feedback loops instantiate a common representational substrate of linguistic and non-linguistic information and attention; and (b) that an explicit working memory may be central to explaining interactions between language and visual attention. We conclude that a synthesis of further experimental evidence from a variety of fields of inquiry and the testing of distinct, non-student, participant populations will prove to be critical.