Lecture 18: Attention and Perception Flashcards
what are the 2 types of attention
selective attention
sustained attention
what is selective attention
Focusing attention on one domain above others
what is sustained attention
concentrating,
not getting distracted
vigilance
Describe the role of attention in perception
we have different types of sensation coming in to our body, and decide to pay attention to some of them
if we can’t perceive things, our brain can’t perceive them
what is Brain lateralization
cognitive functions are split up between different regions in each hemisphere
how is attention lateralization in the parietal lobe
Attention is lateralized to the right
how much attention do the left and right parietal lobes pay attention to
the left hemisphere pays a little attention to the right side
the right hemisphere pays a lot of attention to the left and right sides
for all sensation (touch, sight, etc)
why don’t we see attention deficits with left side strokes?
the right side will have the back up to pay attention to the left side
what do we see in patients with damage to right posterior parietal cortex
Contralateral neglect
what is somatosagnosia
denial of symptoms with contralateral neglect
how does attention typically work
Competition between stimulus inputs from each side of space (vision, sensation, sounds)
how does the competition for attention change after right MCA stroke
Competition between stimulus inputs from each side of space becomes dominated by the right hemi-field
not paying attention to the left, paying too much attention to the right
what is extinction
attention to the left may be somewhat intact in ‘quiet’ environments, but becomes ‘extinguished’ by competing stimulus on the right. This is due to:
* Lack of attention to the left AND * Hyperattention to the right
selective attention can be directed to which 5 things
A particular location
Inputs from a specific modality
Specific higher-order aspect of stimulus
A particular object (and multimodal input related to it)
An object, emotion, plan or concept (remembered or imagined)
sustained attention can be directed at which 3 things
task
object
modality
when reading a neuroscience textbook at a hockey game, what is your selective attention
Look at book, rather than other stimuli in environment
when reading a neuroscience textbook at a hockey game, what are the 3 aspects of your sustained attention doing
concentration - continue reading, even if not interested
nondistractibiltiy - able to re-direct attention to task at hand
Vigilance - State of being constantly attentive and responsive to signs of opportunity or danger.
what are the 4 key areas and systems for attention
Neuromodulatory Systems
Parietal Association Cortex
Frontal Association Cortex
Anterior Cingulate Cortex
what do Neuromodulatory Systems do for attention
Awake, Alert State
Coma > Not awake, Not Alert …Therfore, not ATTENDING
what does the Parietal Association Cortex do for attention
Selective attention
Neglect
what does the Frontal Association Cortex do for attention
- Sustained and selective attention
- Frontal eye Fields (voluntary saccades)
what does the Anterior Cingulate Cortex do for attention
Motivational aspects of attention
- Motivating directed and sustained attention towards interesting stimulus (Easier to attend to money than blank paper)
what are the 3 frontal cortex functions
restraint
initiative
order
what is restraint
Inhibition of inappropriate behavior.
what is initiative
Motivation to pursue positive or productive
activities.
what is order
Capacity to correctly perform sequencing tasks & other cognitive operations.
what do we see with Damage to frontal cortex
May appear un-remarkable at first because perception, language, memory, and motor abilities are
typically unimpaired
very impulsive, can’t inhibit impulses
what deficits dow e see if initiative is affected
Cannot self-initiate tasks
* Deficits with mental flexibility
what deficits do we see if order is affected
Decreased insight/awareness of impairments
Deficits with working memory
Deficits with abstraction
who is her favourite hockey player
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