parietal lobe and attention

psych 377

Question

Answer

What are the two main regions of the parietal lobe?

Anterior (somatosensory cortex) and posterior (association cortex)

What is the main function of the posterior parietal lobe?

Spatial processing and "where" pathway

What is sensorimotor transformation?

Converting sensory input into motor actions (body now → body future)

What is astereognosis?

Inability to identify objects by touch

What is asomatognosia?

Loss of awareness of body ownership

What is dyscalculia?

Difficulty performing mathematical calculations

What is apraxia?

Inability to perform learned movements despite intact motor function

Which hemisphere damage causes apraxia most often?

Left hemisphere

What is optic ataxia?

Impaired visually guided reaching

What is simultaneous extinction?

Failure to detect contralateral stimulus when both sides stimulated

Which hemisphere attends to both visual fields?

Right hemisphere

Which hemisphere attends only to the contralateral field?

Left hemisphere

Why is left neglect more common?

Right hemisphere damage removes attention to both fields

What is hemineglect?

Failure to attend to one side of space

Is hemineglect a sensory deficit?

No

What is the Posner cueing task?

A task measuring attention shifting using valid and invalid cues

What happens during invalid cue trials?

Slower reaction time due to attention shifting

What brain areas are involved in attention shifting?

Parietal lobe

What is divided attention?

Splitting attention between tasks

What brain area is involved in divided attention?

DLPFC

What is simultanagnosia?

Inability to perceive more than one object at a time

What is oculomotor apraxia?

Difficulty directing gaze to objects

What is Balint’s syndrome?

Disorder from bilateral parietal damage affecting vision for action

What are the three symptoms of Balint’s syndrome?

Simultanagnosia

What is peripersonal space?

Space immediately surrounding the body

What are bimodal neurons?

Neurons responding to both visual and tactile stimuli

How does tool use affect peripersonal space?

Expands it temporarily

What is the line bisection task?

Test where patients mark midpoint of a line

What does rightward bias in line bisection indicate?

Left neglect

How does attention affect memory?

Only attended information is recalled

What is the dorsal stream?

Visual pathway for action ("where/how")

What is the ventral stream?

Visual pathway for recognition ("what")

What is a key feature of hemineglect in memory?

Ignoring left side even in recalled scenes

What is extinction in peripersonal space?

Crossmodal interaction between visual and tactile stimuli

What is the role of the DLPFC?

Managing attention during complex or dual tasks

What is vigilance?

Sustained attention over time

What is selective attention?

Focusing on one stimulus while ignoring others

What is orienting in attention?

Directing attention to a location

What is effort in attention?

Mental resources required for a task