Chapter 21: Attention Flashcards
What is attention?
The state of selectively processing simultaneours sources of information is known as attention
What are the three behavioral characteristics commonly associated with ADHD? How many children have ADHD worldwide?
Inattention
hyperactivity
impulsiveness
5-10%
A person only eats food from one side of his plate and only shaves one side of his face. Which Disorder does this person likely have?
Neglect Syndrome
Neglect syndrome is most commonly associated with lesions in which brain area?
Lesions in posterior parietal cortex in the right hemisphere.
But also in right hemisphere prefrontal cortex, cyngulate cortex
a) What did a study measuring the effect of attention on visual detection show?
b) In a similar study reaction time was investigated. What were here the results?
a) Given cues resultet in covert shift of attention making it easier for the subjects to detect the flasehd target correctly.
b) Reaction times were faster when cue was correct (20-30 ms)
Describe an fMRI Study which results seems consistent with the bahavioral observation that visual attention can be moved independently of eye position.
Subjects always kept their gaze at a bulls eye stimulus. Subjects were instructed to pay attention to different sectors. These sectors changed every 10 seconds and every 2 seconds the color and line orientation changed and the subject had to press certain buttons when certain patterns occured.
The important finding is that when the sector change occured the brain activity “moved” with it for example acitivity moved away from the occipital lobe as the sectors moved away from the fovea.
Hypothesis: neural effect of the spotlight of attention moving to different locations
In PET-Imaging of attention to features how were the effect of attention isolated?
Selective-experiments and divided-attention experiment were conducted. Then divided-attention responses were subtracted from selective-attention respones to obtain an image of changes in brain activity associated with attention to one feature.
Name the important thing to learn from the PET Study imaging of attention to features.
Numerous cortical areas are affected by attention and the greatest attentional effects are seen in “late” rather than “early” areas in the visual system.
