Chapter 10 Review Sheet Flashcards
What are the four categories of attention?
- Alertness and Arousal
- Vigilance
- Selective Attention
- Divided Attention
What is Alertness and Arousal?
It is the most basic level of attention
What is an extreme example of Alertness and Arousal?
A Coma
- this is because you can extract little to no information from the environment in this state
What is vigilance?
the ability to maintain alertness continuously over time
What is an example of vigilance?
when you have to pay attention during a lecture that is over an hour long
What is Selective attention?
the selection of information essential to a task
What is an example of selective attention?
when you try to attend a conversation while drowning out music in the background
Which brain system is responsible for the overall arousal and controls the sleep-wake cycles?
Ascending reticular activating system (ARAS)
What happens when the ascending reticular activating system is damaged?
a coma
Which system of the ARAS does this describe? The ventral or dorsal system?
- Projects to the cortex via the thalamus
- Relies on the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine
Dorsal ARAS System
Which system of the ARAS does this describe? The ventral or dorsal system?
- Projects to the cortex via the basal forebrain
- One branch originating in the raphe relies on the neurotransmitter Serotonin (5-HT)
- The other branch originating in the locus coeruleus relies on Norepinephrine (NE)
Ventral ARAS System
What does ARAS stand for?
Ascending Reticular Activating System
Which regions of the thalamus are involved in the function of mediating arousal?
medial dorsal, intralaminar, and reticular nuclei
Damage to the thalamic nuclei might cause…?
a Coma
Which two neurotransmitter systems play a role in vigilance and sustained attention?
the Cholinergic (ACh) and Noradrenergic (NA) systems
The greater the effort required to sustain attention, the larger the release of ______
Acetylcholine
Which neurotransmitter system helps to alert the brain to prepare to receive information?
Noradrenergic system
What is Bottom-Up attentional selection?
some intrinsic aspect of the stimulus itself causes it to be attended
ex: a loud noise grabs your attention
What is Top-down attentional selection?
the person determines how to direct his or her attention
ex: directing your attention to a particular point in space, at an object, or a person
What is a saccade?
an eye movement in which the eyes jump from one position to the next with no processing of the intervening visual information
What are the two types of saccade? Which one is faster?
- Express saccades (reflexive and are faster)
- Regular saccades
What brain structure is associated with saccades?
The Superior Colliculus
What are the two brain regions involved in mediating attentional selection?
- Lateral geniculate nucleus
- Pulvinar
What structure integrates information from the superior parietal lobe and inferior parietal lobe?
The Parietal Lobe
Which portion of the parietal lobe is associated with top-down attentional selection?
Superior Parietal Lobe
Which portion of the parietal lobe is associated with bottom-up attentional control?
Inferior Parietal Lobe
What is Feature Search?
where you are looking for ONE feature such as a color
What is Conjugation Search?
searching for a conjunction of features (MULTIPLE) such as color and shape
What is a salience map?
a map that is a result of bottom-up and top-down attentional control
- It is used to help prioritize where attention should be directed
What brain area plays a large role in salience maps?
The Intraparietal Sulcus
Which frontal regions are involved in attentional control?
Prefrontal regions: Frontal Eye Field (FEF) and Supplementary Eye Field (SEF)
When would the frontal regions involved in attentional control be activated?
When there is stimulus that has appeared and is physically present
Without Attention:
the observed activity is the average of the two responses
Does this describe with or without attention:
The additional stimulus reduces the response to the reference stimulus
Without Attention
With Attention:
The addition of a second stimulus does not alter the cell’s response
Does this describe with or without attention:
The additional stimulus no longer reduces the response to the second stimulus
With Attention
What is Alerting?
allows the brain to maintain a tonic level of arousal and to respond to signals warning of upcoming events
The locus coeruleus, thalamic regions and portions of the right hemisphere are associated with which of the following:
Alerting, Orienting, or Executive Attention?
Alerting
What neurotransmitter is linked to Alerting?
Norepinephrine (NE)
What is Orienting?
aligns attention with sensory signals and selects among multiple sensory inputs
Superior colliculus, parietal areas and frontal eye fields are the components of which of the following:
Alerting, Orienting, or Executive Attention?
Orienting
What neurotransmitter is linked to Orienting?
Acetylcholine (ACh)
What is Executive Attention?
controls how attention is directed according to goals and desires
Basal ganglia, lateral prefrontal cortex, and the anterior cingulate are components of which of the following:
Alerting, Orienting, or Executive Attention?
Executive Attention
What neurotransmitter is associated with Executive Attention?
Dopamine (DA)
What is the default network?
A system that is active when individuals are not involved in attentionally demanding tasks
What is considered to be the baseline state and is involved in directing attention to internal states?
Default Network
What are the three subsystems of the default network?
- The Core-System
- The Medial Temporal Subsystem
- The Dorsal Medial Subsystem
What should you think of when you think of The Core System?
Self-referential processing
- allows personal meaning to be constructed from salient infomation
What should you think of when you think of The Medial Temporal Subsystem?
Mental stimulation
- uses memories to help simulate and imagine novel situations
What should you think of when you think of The Dorsal Medial Subsystem?
Mentalizing
- allows for “theory of mind” - reflection upon the mental states of other people or one’s self
What is hemineglect?
individuals ignore, or do not pay attention to, the side of space contralateral to their lesion
Hemineglect has different behavioral manifestations that are associated with damage to a diverse set of right hemisphere regions, suggesting it is a ______________ disorder.
heterogenous
What is the general idea of treatment for hemineglect?
There must be over or under stimulation of one of the hemispheres.
- down-regulate the activity in the left hemisphere
- up-regulate activity in the damaged right hemisphere
- Caloric Stimulation
