Attention

Question 0

What is sustained attention?

Answer 0

Maintaining attention during continuous and repetitive activities.

Question 1

Attention components of sohlberg and mateer’s clinical taxonomy of attention

Answer 1

Sustained attention 
Executive control (selective, alternating, suppression, working memory)

Question 2

What is selective attention?

Answer 2

Ability to focus attention on a selective tasks while inhibiting responses to no target info

Question 3

What is alternating attention?

Answer 3

Shifting focus between tasks, stimuli or response sets

Question 4

What is working memory?

Answer 4

Ability to hold and manipulate information in the mind

Question 5

What is unilateral neglect?

Answer 5

AKA hemi spatial neglect

Is a CONSEQUENCE of right hemisphere lesion that impairs attention

Question 6

Does unilateral neglect happen with left hemisphere lesions?

Answer 6

Yes but it is not as common

Question 7

What is neglect in regards to brain damage?

Answer 7

Decreased ability to detect, orient toward or respond to stimuli on the space OPPOSITE the lesion

Question 8

When a person fails to read left sides of words and/or lines of text after having a right hemisphere lesion, what is it called?

Answer 8

Neglect Dyslexia

Question 9

Patients with parietal lesions have trouble disengaging from which side?

Answer 9

Ipsilateral side

Question 10

The right hemisphere directs attention what what side of space?

Left hemisphere?

Answer 10

Right: Both Sides

Left: only contralateral side

Question 11

Why is a right hemisphere lesion more severe in terms of attention?

Answer 11

Because right directs both sides while left of directs contralateral side (right hemispace) THEREFORE one side will experience neglect

Question 12

Damage to the right hemisphere causes:

Answer 12

Unilateral neglect
Sustained attention
Vigilance
Arousal

Question 13

What is SART? What can it measure?

Answer 13

Sustained attention response test

Measures response times.

Right hemisphere stroke victims take longer to process items than left hemisphere stroke victims

Question 14

TBI has been shown to cause what?

Answer 14

Slowed cognitive processing 
Attention (vigilance, sustained attention, selective attention, divided attention) problems
Executive control (inhibiting distractions)

Question 15

What is the difference between SART results of patients with TBI compare to those with right hemisphere lesions?

Answer 15

Right hemisphere had slower reaction times

TBI had Quicker reactions but they were less accurate

Question 16

TBI patient’s deficit of executive control of attention makes it hard to?

Answer 16

Resist distraction

Question 17

During testing of TBI patients, what do auditory distractors do? What do visual distractors do?

Answer 17

Visual: slow reaction time

Auditory: poor performance

Question 18

Are TBI patients susceptible to internal distraction?

Answer 18

Yes!

Question 19

How do you know if TBI patients have impairment in divided attention task?

Answer 19

Depends on the TYPE of task.

Episodic/semantic memory processing SHOWS impairments

Task that DO NOT require memory components DO NOT show impairment

Question 20

Do we know the primary deficit in TBI patients?

Answer 20

No! Depends on:

Severity, time after onset, premorbid functioning, presence of coexisting conditions (stress/depression) etc.

Question 21

T/F: dementia with Lewy bodies is the only disorder in which attention deficits are key in diagnosis according to DSM-V?

Answer 21

True!!

But attention impairments are common in neuro cognitive disorders.

Question 22

What impairments are shown early in the diagnosis of AD (Alzheimer’s)?

Answer 22

Executive control

Divided attention

Question 23

Is attention the main focus of assessment of dementia?

Answer 23

No!! But it’s helpful in obtaining diagnostic information

Question 24

Damage of the left hemisphere causing language impairment is MAJOR in defining?

Answer 24

Aphasia

Question 25

In patients with aphasia, is attention the main focus?

Answer 25

No but it helps with treatment

Question 26

What does aphasia impair?

Answer 26

Language performance NOT underlying linguistic competency.

Question 27

Which components of attention are commonly impaired in clients with aphasia?

Answer 27

Arousal, vigilance and sustained attention in linguistic AND no linguistic tasks