A model of attention and memory based on the principle of the dominant and the comparator function of the hippocampus.

The six major questions of attention are described in terms of the dominant, as defined by Ukhtomskii. The dominant was in turn simulated as a systems manifestation of phase transitions in the brain. The theoretical and experimental bases for the existence of metastable states in the brain are reviewed, these states having lifetimes of 1 sec and more. This approach simultaneously provides solutions for all the major questions of attention and the "central controller." A neurobiological model of attention and memory is proposed, based on the systems properties of Ukhtomskii's dominant and the comparator function of the hippocampus as described by Vinogradova. New published data are presented to support the existence of an information processing system in the brain in which the hippocampus plays the central role.