attention TBI

what is attention

• described as skills, processes, and cognitive states 

• interdependent on other cognitive domains 

• functionality 

• shared neuro-circuitry 

• poor attention impedes other cognitive domains 

• could be considered a prerequisite for other cognitive operations to succeed 

dichotic listening experiment

• indicate the selective nature of attention 

• fails to report the message heard when attempting to listen to both messages simultaneously, 

• shadowing makes it possible to attend to one ear but is unable to report the message delivered to the other ear. however, you could gather information regarding tonality from the unattended ear  

filter theories/model

• early filter model

• filter attenuation model

• late filter model

early filter model

only the attended stimuli will be selected and subjected to further processing

filter attenuation model

unattended information will not be completely filtered out but attenuated for later analysis

late filter model

all stimuli processed but only the most important information is selected.

capacity limitation

• emphasis on capacity - can only handle a limited amount of stimuli

• managing allocation - must distribute our attentional resources

• performance in influenced due to limited resources and/or inefficient allocation

central bottle neck model

this model posits that cognitive resources must be sequentially allocated when involved inmultiple tasks

when attempting to complete two or more activites, a bottle neck is created

which may result in a delayed response,especially for the second task aka psycological refractory period

multitasking 

many studies found that when learners are expected to listen to their instructor, they often multitask in different ways 

messaging while learning - reduced learning 

subcortical system

top-down processing

alerting - changing levels of arousal or vigilance

posterior system

• orienting, the ability to allocate attention in space to objects

anterior system 

• executive control - the effortful control of attention ( conflict resolution, error detection) the ability to engage in goal directed behavior 

alerting

• locus coeruleus ( a brainstem nucleus that produces norepinephirne). right frontal and parietal lobes ( left may also be involved)

orienting

Right temporoparietal junction, superior parietal lobe, superior colliculus, pulvinar, acetylcholine

executive control system 

• frontopartal network - starting and stopping a task, movement to movement montioring of the task,resoling conflicts, and tasks switching 

• cingulo-opercular network - maintains ongoing task performance

dorsal and ventral attention networks 

• dorsal network - goal directed, top-down attention( attention capity) high cognition 

• ventral network - stimulus driven, bottom-up attention ( primitive 

 

focused attention

orient and respond to a specific stimulus

sustained attention

ability to maintain attention to an ongoing, repetitive task for aperoid of time ( same thing )

selective attention 

ability to sustain attention to a target stimulus in the pressence of irrelevant or distractors stimuli 

alternating attention

• ability to flexibly switch back and forth between different tasks and task instructions

suppression 

ability to control impulsive responding 

working memory 

ability to hold and manipulate information in mind 

purpose of the eval

• to understand the type/nature of attention is impaired

• understand how the impairment impacts everyday activities

• to assess the person’s ability to manage impairment with behavior regulation & adaptation

considerations

• deficit levels

• psychomentric properties of the tool

• the clients comorbid conditions that may impact performance ( pyshical ability)

• patients factors - bilingual native language, literacy level, based educational background

considerations when describing and measuring attention 

• the modality of the stimulus ( hearing gone) 

• fluctions in attention ( observations in attention) 

• effort and attention ( what task) 

direct attention training

goal - treat the underlying attention impairment

repetition

decontextualized tasks

insufficient evidence to indicate effectiveness

training specific functional skills

• approach treats real attention in real world activites

• uses neuropsychological scaffolding

incog -metacog 

stages 

stage 1 identifying the problem 

stage 2 - teaching the strategy 

stage 3 generalization 

self-management

1. identify goal

2. what do they need to reach the goal

3. identify solutions to challenges

4. self-monitor and evaluate progress

5. modify the behavior or strategy

self-management strategies

• orienting procedure

• pacing

• PQRST