Class 19 - Attention and neglect syndromes Flashcards
What is attention?
Selective awareness of the environment
What is consciousness?
Awareness and awareness of awareness
Is attention conscious?
Ongoing debate - non verbal processing, blindsight, blind touch
What types of processing make up attention?
Automatic processing and conscious processing
What is the difference between bottom up and top down processing in conscious processing?
Bottom up = outside stimulus catches your attention
Top down = inner thought directs attention
What does the attention spotlight do in Treisman’s feature search?
Emphasize a location in vision for attention
Do cells in V1 or TE show attentional effects?
TE
Can a neuron learn to respond selectively to information in its receptive field?
Yes
Why is it difficult to distinguish lines that are in similar orientations?
You are calling overlapping neurons responsible for each angle
What happens when we divide attention between too many tasks?
Performance on tasks decrease
What is cross modal parallel processing?
Attention is allocated within and between sensory modalities. directing attention to a stimulus increases brain activation in that modality
What side of the parietal lobe fires when light is moving? When light moved in the right visual field?
Right and left parietal lobe respectively
What does the reticular activating system do?
Control overall arousal
What does the parietal cortex do for attention?
Enhances spatial attention
What does the visual and posterior temporal cortex do for attention?
Selects object features
What does the inferior temporal region do in attention?
Selects objects
What does the frontal eye fields do in attention?
Selects movement
What system is part of engaging and disengaging?
Posterior parietal system
What are the four major components of attention in the Mirsky model?
focus-execute, shift, sustain, encode/execute
How does the attentional system choose important sensory events?
Executive attention might induce neural synchrony
What is inattentional blindness?
Failure to notice something during performance of another task
What is change blindness?
Failure to detect changes in the presence, identity or location of objects in scenes
What is an attentional blink?
Failure to notice a second stimulus if presented within 500ms of the first
What are the two types of neglect?
Attentional and intentional neglect
What is the difference between egocentric and allocentric neglect?
Cannot see things on one side of themselves vs cannot see things on one side of an object
What systems are inactivated during unconsciousness?
Dorsolateral prefrontal, medial frontal, posterior parietal and posterior cingulate cortex. These are highly associated area
