Abstract The brain’s ability to selectively prioritize moments in time—temporal attention—is fundamental for orchestrating behavior in a dynamic world. This review synthesizes the burgeoning body of research investigating how temporal attention modulates visual perception, a primary sensory domain. We begin by outlining the core empirical findings and key theoretical frameworks that elucidate the mechanisms of this facilitation. Moving beyond established phenomena, we delve into the central debates defining the field, such as whether temporal attention affects early visual perception or primarily later stages like decision-making. Furthermore, we evaluate computational models that formalize these mechanisms and provide testable predictions. By synthesizing this diverse literature, our goal is to clarify the current theoretical landscape and identify critical, unresolved questions. We conclude by highlighting the foremost challenges and proposing essential directions for future research, with the aim of bridging gaps between behavioral, neural, and computational accounts of temporal attention in vision. Graphical Abstract
Huang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.