Normal Cognition Flashcards
What is the historical belief of cognition and language ?
cognition & language were believed to be related but two different things
What is current belief of cognition & language?
Language comprehension & formulation are part of the cognitive system - may not be as distinct from cognition as previously thought
What is Cognition?
Umbrella term for all higher mental processes including:
- attention
- memory
- executive function
What is Attention?
Definition: The ability to detect & respond to stimuli
What Theoretical Model of Attention is most widely referred to in SLP world?
Sohlberg & Mateer’s model (1987, 2001, 2010)
- Sustained attention - ability to maintain attention during continuous and repetitive activities
- Executive Control of Attention- includes:
- selective
- alternating
- suppression
- working memory
- divided attention
What is sustained attention?
Description: ability to maintain attention during continuous and repetitive activities
Representative Task:
Monitoring a spoken list for target words
Selective Executive Control of Attention
Description:
Selectively process information while inhibiting responses to nontarget information
Representative Task:
Listening to a spoken passage in the presence of background noise and/or distracting visual stimuli
Alternating Executive Control of Attention
Description:
Ability to shift focus between tasks, stimuli, or response sets
mental flexibility
- also includes divided attention
Task:
Switching back and forth between listening to a spoken passage and reading text
Suppression - Executive Control of Attention
Description:
Ability to control impulsive responding
Task:
Inhibiting automatic responses during a task;
“thinking before acting”
Working Memory - executive control of attention
Description:
Ability to hold and manipulate information in mind
Task:
Doing math in one’s head
Principles of Attention
Attention is:
- always defined in relation to a stimulus
- external or internal
-
modality of external stimulus should always be identified and noted
- Modalities: auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory, gustatory
- may function as a prerequisite to other cognitive linguistic operations
-
capacity limitation:
- attention is a limited-capacity resource
-
Selection:
- attention involves selection of relevant stimuli (others ignored/filtered)
Why does normal variability of attention occur?
Normal Variability occurs due to :
- Modality: Auditory vs. visual attention
- Time-based variability - can decrease over time
- Effort level
Clinical translation: you may be seeing a difference rather than a disorder, since there’s alot of normal variation
What areas of the brain are devoted to attention?
Attention is essential for all cognitive functions, therefore large areas of brain are devoted to attention
- Frontal lobe (prefrontal cortex)
- Parietal lobe
- Temporal lobe
What is Memory?
Definition:
the function of the brain to store and recall information
Theoretical Models of Human Memory
-Name Two
- Stages Model
- Systems Model
What is Stages Model?
A theoretical model of human memory
- intended to describe various stages of information processing
- encoding
- storage
- retrieval
Encoding
- early processing of material to be learned
- involves strategies such as rehearsal and organization
- quality determines how well info is stored & later retrieved (e.g. depth of encoding, organization of material)
Storage
- holding of information in the memory system for future use
- short-term store temporary unless transferred to long-term store
- encoding processes occur during short-term storage
- long-term store considered to be permanent unless disrupted by pathological process
Retrieval
- pulling information from storage (long-term store) in order to use it
- delayed recall on memory tests
- may be facilitated by presentation of information in recognition formats (e.g. multiple choice, yes/no)
Describe interaction between encoding, storage
and retrieval in the stages model
-
quality of encoding impacts storage and retrieval
- information encoded deeply & associated with pre-existing knowledge is more likely to be encoded more effectively and efficiently
- Information is better recalled under conditions similar to when it was learned (context-dependent memory or domain specific memory)
- Repeated retrieval of information can increase probability of being retrieved at a later time
Describe Model of Working Memory
in System Model Theory
*previously short-term; Baddeley & Hitch, 1974
- When information arrives via the sense organs (perceptually encoded), it goes to working memory
Memory Systems
Table
pg. 57 in book
Where are memories stored?
- Temporal Lobe & Hippocampus -
- important for storage of new memories & retrieal of existing memories
- Frontal lobe & subcortical structures -
- encoding of information & retrieving through their role in “executive” or “supervisory” functions (e.g. attention, organization; temporal memory)
- retrieval process is mediated by frontal lobe
- cortical & subcortical area associations trigger retrieval of memories
- Multiple long-term memory sites
- especially in integration areas of temporo-parietal lobes that are implicated in verbal and visual memory
Theoretical Models of
Executive Function
Many theories:
- components of executive function not mutually exclusive
- they interact & overlap
- general agreement about primary cognitive processes comprising executive function
Neuroanatomy
of
Executive Function
- Executive functions are associated with the frontal lobes and their connections
- Prefrontal area is divided into subsections:
- Dorsolateral
- Ventrolateral
- Orbitofrontal
- Dorsomedial
- Ventromedial
