[W1] - CH14 Flashcards
Attention as a Baseline
Attention is not only a baseline for sensorimotor functions, but also higher order processes such as language skills, memory and learning, and visual-spatial processing.
Attentional problems are often a symptom of underlying neurological disabilities. Indeed, it is common for children to have attentional processing disorders if they have compromised brain functioning as a result of other neurodevelopmental disorders, exposure to environmental toxins, TBIs, etc.
Mirsky’s Taxonomy of Attention Functions
- Focus/execute
- Sustain and stabilize
- Shift
- Encode (now seen as a measure of working memory)
Posner and Peterson’s Three Attentional System
- Orienting
- Selection
- Alerting or sustained attention
Selective/Focused Attention
(Mirsky’s focus/execute) The ability to scan an array of stimuli and selectively respond.
Focused attention is the ability to scan an array of stimuli, whilst the execute component refers to the ability to make a response. The contemporary interchangeable term used in current literature is selective attention - the ability to maintain a cognitive set in the presence of background ‘noise’ or ‘distraction’.
An example of a neuropsychological test measuring selective attention is the Stroop Color-Word Test (SCWT) [selectively attend to the colour of the ink]
Sustained Attention
The ability to stay on task in a vigilant manner for a prolonged period of time.
Classic test of sustained attention…
Child is asked to attend to a “target” event (e.g., press a button when an X is followed by an O), while ignoring all other events over a prolonged period of time.
Attentional Capacity
Attentional capacity has a direct relationship with the cognitive capacity or load required on memory tasks. As the length of the stimuli to be recalled increases, and the semantic loading increases from words to sentences to stories, there are concurrent changes in the attentional demands of tasks .
Typical test measuring attentional capacity…
Digit span test (child asked to recall a series of digits increasing in length)
Such tests obviously have a strong memory component, but they incorporate substantial attentional demands also.
The Neuroanatomy of Attention
Subcortical portions of the brain (e.g.,
the reticular activating system) = help regulate and maintain arousal.
Higher
cortical regions (e.g., prefrontal lobes and anterior cingulate cortex) = help allocate attentional resources, selectively attend, and regulate response inhibition.
Selective/Focused Attention:
- Mirsky = superior temporal cortex, inferior parietal cortex, corpus striatum structures
- Peterson & Posner = anterior cingulate and supplemental motor areas
Sustained Attention:
- Mirsky = subcortical rostral midbrain structures (incl. tectum, mesopontine, reticular formation, and midline and reticular thalamic nuclei)
- Peterson & Posner = right side of brain, particularly the anterior and prefrontal areas.
Perhaps some of the variability in linking
specific attentional processes with specific neuroanatomical structures can be attributed to differences in neuroimaging techniques; adult versus child populations; and tasks which required more “bottom-up” versus “top-down” attentional processes.
[Orbitofrontal, dorsolateral and anterior cingulate cortex consistently activated]
Divided Attention
The ability to attend to more than one stimulus at a time
Neglect
The failure to respond to visual, auditory, or tactile stimuli presented
in the hemispace contralateral (opposite side of the body) to a brain lesion that cannot be attributed to
primary sensory or motor deficits [hemispatial milder than unilateral]
Neuropsychological Processing
Concerns Checklist for Children and Youth (NPCC-3) Attention Items
Selective or Sustained Attention Difficulties:
- Seems to get overwhelmed with difficult tasks.
- Difficulty paying attention for a long period of time.
- Seems to lose place in an academic task (e.g., reading, writing, math).
- Mind appears to go blank or loses train of thought.
- Inattentive to details or makes careless mistakes.
Integrated SNP/CHC Model Classifications
of Attentional Facilitators/Inhibitors
Broad:
- Allocating and
maintaining
attention
facilitators/
inhibitors.
Second Order: (6)
- Selective/focused
attention.
- Sustained Attention.
- Response Inhibition.
- Attentional Capacity.
- Qualitative Behaviors.
- Behavioral Rating Scales.
Third Order Classifications of Selective/focused attention
Auditory; Visual
Third Order Classifications of Sustained attention
Auditory; Visual; Auditory and Visual
Third Order Classifications of Response Inhibition
Verbal; Motoric
Third Order Classifications of Attentional Capacity
Memory for… numbers, letters, or
visual sequences; words and sentences; stories