Attentional modulation of background connectivity between ventral visual cortex and the medial temporal lobe

•Attention increases coupling of visual areas that process task-relevant information.•May explain how information is prioritized for processing in medial temporal lobe.•Visual cortex connects to PHC when scenes attended and to PRC when faces attended.•Switching of background connectivity most pronounced for unselective visual voxels.•Candidate mechanism for how attention can influence learning and memory behavior.