Attention, Arousal, and Awareness (Lecture 1 Exam 2, Neuropsych)

What is the principle behind making a pyramid of cognitive domains?

The idea is that the different domains BUILD upon each other, or there is a hierarchy.

• at the bottom we have medical/biological considerations (how is the person currently functioned? how have they functioned in the past?)

What does the pyramid of cognitive domains actually look like, from bottom to top?

executive functioning

memory

language/visuo-spatial skills

arousal, simple attention, complex attention

cranial nerve function, sensory-motor-perceptual functioning

medical history, course duration of current illness

Why would attention (arousal, simple attention, and complex attention) come before language, visuo-spatial skills, and memory?

Without attention, we don’t get anything higher up on the pyramid.

• attention is the gateway that allows sensory inputs to be encoded

• only once information is ATTENDED to can it be used for language processing, encoded into memory, or manipulated by executive functioning (planning, decision making)

What is arousal? What are the two definitions of arousal?

• the maintenance of an APPROPRIATE level of cerebral activity to SUCCESSFULLY complete the task in which one is engaged - you have to have the RIGHT level of activation for the situation

- TASK SPECIFIC/DYNAMIC

• a physiological and psychological state of being awake, alert, and attentive

- GENERAL STATE

What does it mean for arousal to exist on a continuum?

We can be HYPOaroused, or HYPERaroused. 

Your attention will fluctuate with respect to time/won’t have a constant value over a period of, say, an hour. 

• it’s hard to sustain constant focus for long periods of time

What network in the brainstem regulates arousal, sleep cycles, and attention?