Chapter 7 / Attention Flashcards
Focalization
Concentration of consciousness are of its essence. It implies withdrawal from somethings in order to deal effectively with others, and is a condition which has real opposite in the confused, dazed and scatterbrain.
Attention:
It is the taking of possession by the mind, in clear and
vivid form, of one out of what seem several
simultaneously possible objects or trains of
thought
Selective Attention
is the ability to focus awareness on one stimulus, thought or action while ignoring other irrelevant stimuli, thoughts and actions.
Arousal
is a global physiological and psychological brain stare, whereas selective attention describe what we attend and ignore within any specific level (high vs low) of arousal.
Attention also:
influences how we process sensory inputs, store that information in memory, process is semantically and act on it.
Unilateral Spatial Neglect or Simply Neglect
is common, it results when the brains attention network is damaged in one hemisphere, typically the result of a stroke.
For example: patient with neglect tends to notice you on her right side, eat off the right side of her plate, comb her hair from the right as it results in neglect of what is going on in the left.
Extinction:
presence of the completing stimulus in the ipsilateral hemifield prevents the patient from detecting the contralesional stimulus.
Selective attention: (2)
Selective attention: is not a global brain state. It is the ability to prioritize and attend to some things and not others. For example, focusing on school work instead of social media.
This is also: Goal driven control (top-down control) steered by individuals current behavioural goals shaped by learned priorities based on personal experiences/evolutionary adaptions.
Reaction is stimulus driven: STIMULUS-DRIVEN-CONTROL (bottom up control) which is much less dependant on current behavioural goals.
UNDERSTANDING ATTENTION: WHAT
WHAT?
* Process by which some stimuli are selected
for privileged processing
UNDERSTANDING ATTENTION: WHY
WHY?
* Nervous system has a limited capacity
and cannot process all things at all times
UNDERSTANDING ATTENTION: HOW
HOW?
* Stimuli compete for limited resources and
some stimuli may be selected over others
for a variety of reasons
THEREFORE, ATTENTION IS BOTH
A process (orienting, selecting, gating) & a resource (capacity)
Cognitive components:
- Arousal: generalized sense of alertness
- Sustained Attention: duration of focus, vigilance
- Selective Attention: Prioritization of information among competing
representations (face over house or house over face)
-Divided attention: Allocation of resources between different tasks (texting and driving)
A working model of attention
> Alertness: (Sustained Attention/ Arousal/ Vigilance)
* maintaining focus over a period of time
* top-down modulation based on relevance
* Flashlight
> (Re) Orienting:
* directing and re-directing attention
* disengage and shift attention
* Flashlight movement
* Neglect: failure to move attention
> Executive: Supervisory Control
* Mediating & monitoring interaction between top-down and bottom
up processes
Reticular activating system
- Maintains arousal to support attentional processing.
- major supporting role for attentional processing
> general state of alertness needed to carry out attention functions
> also plays a role in physic alertness- when the general arousal level is heightened temporality in response to a stimuli. - arousal does not = attention as there can be attentional deficits in perfectly awake individuals
> extreme arousal as in pain or terror may impair the flexability of attention.
