While age is a factor in the size of the anterior shift, it is not the only one, the researchers found. Instead of the exact same neuronal populations being reactivated, we see this anterior shift. The anterior shift, however, shows there’s more to it than that. “We interpret the anterior shift as reflecting a bias in favor of semantic, abstract information at the expense of perceptual detail. “So, we would predict an anterior shift in auditorily selective cortex similar to what we found for visually selective cortex.”Srokova said: “We also want to know if we can modulate the size of the anterior shift.