Attention & Executive Functions Flashcards
Attention allows us to select information for:
Attention is __________ limited!
Conscious thought and processing
(allocate resources to incoming sensory information)
Capacity
Amount of attention invested depends on 4 task demands:
Novelty
Complexity
Amount of practice w/ task
Automaticity of task
Hierarchical Model of Attention
Divided Alternating Selective Sustained Focused
Focused attention
Most basic level
Ability of respond to specific sensory stimuli (e.g., head turning to sound/visual/tactile/olfactory
Sustained attention
Ability to process incoming information over a period of time
-Focused attention but for an extended time interval
Selective attention
Select stimuli to attend to
Freedom from distractibility (filter extra info)
Can be affected by internal or external distractors
Alternating Attention
Capacity for mental flexibility
Shifting attn, moving b/t tasks w/ different cognitive requirements
e.g., listening to lecture and taking notes
Divided Attention
Multitasking!
Stimuli compete for attentional resources
*Good chance this doesn’t truly exist
Attention distributed through many cortical/subcortical structures:
- DLPF (drives attn, personality, reasoning, judgement)
- Parietal cortex (post-central gyrus & association areas next to it - determines amt of assets to put to attn)
- Anterior cingulate cortex (divided/allocates)
- Thalamus
Executive Functions centred in:
Definition:
Efs NOT activated to complete:
Frontal lobe
High level, interconnected control processes that allow us to formulate, choose, organize and regulate our goal directed behaviours
Overlearned/automatic tasks
6 Executive Functions
- Awareness
- Organization
- Initiation & Drive
- Inhibition
- Task Persistence
- Generative Thinking
Awareness
Definition
Location:
Deficit:
Capacity for insight and self-evaluation
Need so you can incorporate feedback from others
Prefrontal & R Parietal Regions
Unaware of deficit, does not notice others aren’t interested
Organization is related to _________
Definition:
Location:
Damage to this region:
Central executive component of WM
Goal identification & planning, responsible for avoiding responding to non-essential info
DLPF
Poor pragmatic skills, jump topics, doesn’t get main idea, poor verbal organization
Initiation/Drive
Definition
Location:
Damage to this region =
To respond to information, need starting behaviour
Medial Frontal Lobes
Abulia/apathy, flat affect, does not initiate
Inhibition
Definition
Location:
Damage to this region =
Ability to inhibit automatic response tendencies
Orbitofrontal cortices
Inappropriate comments/behaviours, doesn’t wait for turn
Task Persistence
Deficits:
Involves completing tasks once initiated
Strongly related to response inhibition (staying on task)
Loses interest in conversation, cannot maintain topic
Generative Thinking
Deficits:
The ability to generate solutions to problems and think flexibly about alternatives
*Crucial to most tasks of everyday life
Unable to generate convo, has little to say, hard to respond to open-ended questions
EFs occur in 3 main regions of frontal lobes:
- DLPF (organization)
- Orbitofrontal cortices (above eyes - inhibition)
- Medial frontal cortex (anterior cingulate - attention)
Frontal Lobe Syndrome
Damage to frontal lobes causing: disinhibition, apathy, abulia, impaired higher cognitive skills
This is the strongest predictor of successful community integration in TBI:
Integrity of EFs
