Arousal+Attention Flashcards
awake, oriented to personal, place, and time
normal arousal
responsive and conversant, but easily distracted; disconnected thoughts, purposeless behavior
disoriented/confused
disoriented, hyperactive, autonomic hyperactivity, hallucination/delusions
acute/rapid onset and considered temporary (gone after underlying condition treated)
delirium
arousable only to vigorous stimulation; responses when aroused are minimal and slow
stupor
unresponsive to external stimuli; basic functions may be absent
coma
common causes of arousal deficits
- acute neurologic insult
- metabolic dysfunctions (hypoxia: heart attack)(hypo/hyperglycemia: diabetes)(hypo/hyperthyroidism: thyroid disease)(hyperammonemia: liver failure)(uremia: kidney failure)(acute intoxication: sedatives, heavy metals)
the mental process of concentrating effort on a stimulus of mental event
attention
sensory, stimulus-driven, implicit, exogenous, automatic
without conscious awareness (involuntary)
bottom-up attentional focus
executive, goal-driven, explicit, endogenous, controlled
more conscious effort and control
top-down attentional focus
spatial: certain aspects of visual processing are automatic; analysis requires a specific physical feature to locate target
response time unaffected by # of stimuli present
bottom-up, fast, one dimension, pop-out
feature search
looking for two features (series process)
mental spotlight scans from one location to next to locate particular information
more difficult; depends on time or place
response time increases in relation to # of stimuli present
top-down, slow, multiple dimensions, serial
conjunction search
feature integration theory
stimulus pattern or visual scene we see registered in area V1
broken down into feature maps (color, orientation, motion)
information serially processed in parallel pathways
attends to specific location within master map (attentional spotlight)
features within the spotlight are combined to form an object (perception + recognition)
automatic vs. controlled attentional processes
central executive: command center that controls and regulates cognitive processes and intervenes before they go astray (selective attention, response inhibition, change between tasks)
phonological loop: verbal/acoustic information and temporary store + articulatory rehearsal system
visuo-spatial sketchpad: visual information
episodic buffer: limited capacity temporary storage that is capable of integrating information across domains of verbal & visual
dual-task paradigm experiments evidence for slave systems
individuals performing two tasks that require two DIFFERENT domains perform the SAME as if they were doing them singularly
individuals performing two tasks that require the SAME domain perform LESS EFFICIENTLY than if they were perform in the tasks singularly
attentional network
one of the first models to introduce that spatial attention is a distributed function mediated by network of cortical functions
reticular structures: important for arousal
cingulate cortex: important for regulation of behavior within attention and motivation/emotional significance to extrapersonal elements
thalamus: receives activation from subcortical structures and relays information to cortex in bi-directional manner
posterior parietal cortex: generates internal sensory representation of extrapersonal environment
frontal cortex: modulates and coordinates motor programs for responding to stimuli
