Attention And Unconsciousness

Question 1

Define attention

Answer 1

The ability to focus on one aspect of sensory input

Question 2

Define consciousness

Answer 2

Awareness of something

Question 3

What is the resting state activity

Answer 3

Activity in the brain during quiet restful wakefulness

Question 4

What are some observations of the brain at rest?

Answer 4

1. During tasks, there are decreases and increases in the resting state
2. Areas that show Decreased activity compared to the resting state are consistent when the nature of the task is changed. Areas showing decreased during activity are always active at rest
3. Patterns in the brain activities change consistently across human subjects

Question 5

What brain areas show more activity in the resting state than during behavioural tasks?

Answer 5

Medial prefrontal cortex
Posterior cingulate cortex
Posterior parietal cortex
Hippocampus
Lateral temporal cortex

Question 6

Define default mode network

Answer 6

An interconnected group of brain areas that are consistently more active when the brain is at rest than during active behavioural tasks.

Question 7

What is the sentinel hypothesis?

Answer 7

Even when we rest, we must broadly monitor (pay attention to) our environment.

When we are active, we focus our attention on the matter at hand,

Question 8

What is simultagnosia

Answer 8

People have normal visual fields and are able to perceive individual object, but are unable to integrate simultaneous information to understand a complex scene

Question 9

What is the internal mentation hypothesis?

Answer 9

The default network mode up supports thinking and remembering, the sort of daydreaming we do while sitting quietly.

Question 10

What is exogenous attention of bottom up attention?

Answer 10

Attention reflexively directed to an external stimulus because of its salience

Question 11

What is endogenous attention or top down attention?

Answer 11

Attention voluntarily directed by the brain to serve a behavioural goal

Question 12

What is covert attention

Answer 12

Shifting attention to objects imaged on part of the retina outside of the fovea

Question 13

What were the results on an experiment studying that effects of direct visual attention to different locations?

Answer 13

Plus sign cue = 60% correct
Right arrow cue = 80% correct
However, when the cue pointed to the right, the observers detected the target stimulus to the left only 50% of the time

Question 14

What are the behavioural consequences of attention?

Answer 14

1. Increases our visual sensitivity, making things easier to detect
2. Increases speed of our reactions to sensory events

Question 15

What were the results of the experimenting demonstrating attention increases speed of reaction?

Answer 15

Plus sign cue = 250-300msec to push button
Arrow cue = 20-30 maces faster
Incorrect arrow cue = 20-30msec slower

Question 16

What is the spotlight of attention?

Answer 16

Moves into illuminate objects of particular interest or significance

Question 17

What are selective attention experiments?

Answer 17

Pay attention to just one feature

Question 18

What are divided attention experiments?

Answer 18

Simultaneous monitoring of all features

Question 19

What did the ventromedial occipital cortex pay attention to?

Answer 19

Colour
Shape

Question 20

What did the parietal cortex pay attention to?

Answer 20

Motion tasks

Question 21

What specific areas of the brain may pay attention to colour and shape?

Answer 21

V4 and IT and other visual cortex of the temporal lobe

Question 22

What specific areas of the brain is most active during a motion task?

Answer 22

Area MT

Question 23

What structure has been studied for its possible role in guiding attention?

Answer 23

Pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus

Question 24

Why is the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus studied in guiding attention?

Answer 24

1. Respond strongly to stimulus in receptive field
   2 reciprocal connections with most visual cortical areas of the occipital, parietal and temporal lobes.
2. Increased synchronisation between neural activity in the pulvinar, area V4 and area IT,

Question 25

What happens to humans when there is a lesion on the pulvinar?

Answer 25

Responds Abnormally slowly to stimuli on the contra lateral side, particularly when there are competing stimuli on the ipsilateral side,

Question 26

What does muscimol affect in attention?

Answer 26

An agonist to GABA - suppresses neurons.

Injection produces difficulty in shifting attention to contralateral stimuli

Question 27

Define frontal eye fields

Answer 27

A cortical area in the frontal lobe involved in generation of saccadic eye movements

Question 28

What are the direct connections to the FEF?

Answer 28

V2, V3, V4, MT, and the parietal cortex

Question 29

What happens when the FEF is electrically stimulated?

Answer 29

Visual response is faster only inside the motor field

The visual response of the V4 neuron was increased compared to no stimulation

Question 30

What is a salience map?

Answer 30

A map of visual space that highlights the locations of conspicuous objects

Question 31

What is a priority map?

Answer 31

A map showing locations where attention should be directed based on stimulus salience and cognitive input

Question 32

What role does lateral intraparietal cortex play?

Answer 32

Directing eye movement

Question 33

What is neglect syndrome ?

Answer 33

An inability to attend to half of the environment

Question 34

What is the frontoparietal attention network?

Answer 34

A group of interconnected brain areas involved in guiding visual attention

Question 35

What is the temporal sequence in attention?

Answer 35

Frontal lobe (prefrontal cortex and FEF) and followed progressively by areas LIP, V4 and MT, V2, and then V1.

Question 36

What are materialists and dualism?

Answer 36

Materialists - consciousness arises from physical processes

Dualism - mind and body are different things and one cannot be fully explained by the other

Question 37

What are easy problems of the consciousness?

Answer 37

Phenomena that seems answerable by standard scientific methodology

Question 38

What are the hard problems of consciousness?

Answer 38

The experience itself (emotions, sensory information)

Question 39

Define neural correlates of consciousness

Answer 39

Minimal neuronal events sufficient for a specific conscious percept

Question 40

Define binocular rivalry

Answer 40

Perception that alternates in time between the image seen by one eye and dissimilar image seen by the other eye