Prefrontal Circuit Dynamics Underlying Attention–Oculomotor Coupling

Adaptive behavior requires balancing goal-directed focus with flexibility toward unexpected events. In visual spatial attention, this balance emerges from the interaction between endogenous orienting, which reflects internal goals, and exogenous orienting, which is triggered by salient stimuli. These modes are often interpreted as differing in their relationship to oculomotor circuits. However, how this differential coupling is implemented at the neural level remains unresolved. Evidence supports a framework in which endogenous and exogenous attention differ through dynamic recruitment of partially dissociable neural populations within prefrontal cortex. In this account, endogenous attention engages gradual and sustained reconfiguration of visual representations, whereas exogenous orienting relies on rapid, transient shifts within visuomotor circuits. This framework reconciles competing models of attention–motor coupling and provides a unified account of spatial selection in dynamic environments.