PSY 246 Attention and Consciousness Chapter 22

What is attention

A state of focused awareness on a subset of the available perceptual information

What are the three stages of attention

Disenaged = taking attention away from current focus

Shift = moving attention from one item to another

Engage = lock attentional focus onto new item

What is selective attention

Selective attention is the process of focusing on a specific stimulus, thought, or task while ignoring other competing inputs.

• Can be overt (shifting eyes) or covert (shifting focus)

Selective attention can be split into voluntary and reflexive, explain the two 

Voluntary = attention is shifted between inputs intentionally 

Reflective = shifts in attention occur in response to an external event 

Compare and contrast overt and covert

Overt = attention to information being looked at directly (involves eye movements)

Covert = attention to a location not directly being looked at (not associated with eye movements)

What is the cocktail party effect

Uses selective hearing / visual exception is salient stimuli

Salient stimulis; (important to you)

• Name

• Taboo words/topics

• Strong interests

Compare and contrast endogenous vs exogenous control

Endogenous = voluntary, cue usually needs interpretation

Exogenous = reflexive, cue automatically draws attention

The frontoparietal attentional network has three subdivisions, explain each

Posterior Attentional System = responsible for orientation of attention, what do we focus on

Anterior Attentional System = Consious control of attention, what do we need to focus on

Vigilance System = prepares and sustains alertness toward signals that deman high priority (maintained and sustained attention)

What are the brain regions that play a role in the Posteriro Attentional System

Parietal Lobe = shifts of attention in space, “where” information

Superior Colliuli = visual processing and eye movements

Pulvinar nucleus fo the thalamus = filtering / suppressing irrelevant stimuli

In terms of the Posterior Attentional System, what plays the main role?

Parietal Lobe = shifts of attention in space, “where” information

What brain regions play a role in Anterior Attentional System?

Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex

• Decision making

• Maintaining attention away from irrelevant information

Cingulate Cortex

• Selective attention

AAS connects to hippocampus, amygdala, medial temporal cortex

What disrupts our vigilance tasks?

• Right frontal damage compromises ability to maintain alert state or perfrom vigilance tasks

• Depleting right hemisphere of Norepinephrine

What is inattentional blindness

A failur to notice, a stimulus that wouldve been easily reportable if it were attended or paid attention 

What is change blindness

A change in a visual stimulus is intorduced that the observer does not notice

What is neglect

Inability to attend or to respond to stimuli in contralesional (opposite side of where the lession or damage happened) visual field

• Typically neglect ofleft visual field after damage to right parietal lobe

Patients tend to neglect left side of their own body and of world (objects or sounds on left)

• Unable to percieve people, objects, or sounds on left

What is simultaneous extinction

Inability to perceive simultaneous stimuli

Subject is presented with two objects at the same time, but only notice and report only one of the objects

What is ADHD

a neurodevelopmental disorder chracterized by deficits in sustained attention, inhibitory control, and executive control (control over what were paying attention to)

What are the three types of ADHD

Three predominant types:

• Inattentive

• Hyperactive/impulsive

• Combined

Despite deficits in attention, visual attention of those with ADHD seems to be fairly normal

What is consiousness

Consciousness is how aware and responsive your mind is to what you sense around you

• Awareness + awakeness

NOT dichotomous (not an all of nothing, theres different levels of consciousness)

What are the theoretical models of consiousness and the brain

• Consciousness as the privileged role of particular neural structures

• Consciousness as a state of integration between otherwise distinct brain systems

• Consciousness as a graded property of neural information processing

one of the three theories for consiousness is priviledged role of particular neural strcutres, what does this theory state?

A single structure, or set of structures is responsible for consiousness

• just like motor funciton, vison, or emotion, many brain regions are responsible for consiousness

Frontal lobe, pineal gland and cingulate cortex play a role in consciousness

one of the three theories for consiousness is Integration between distinct regions, what does this thoery state

Emergent propery resulting from interaction between distinct neural systems

• similar to how there is a network of regions required for language, attention, vision, etc.

one of the three theories for consciousness is graded property of neural processing, what does this theory state

Consciousness is not ALL or NONE

Quality of how much your paying attention to something determines how likely it is to come to conscious awareness (like reading and reaching the end of the page and not knowing what you just read)

How do we study consiousness?

Sleep and wakefulness

Presenting stimuli without awareness

Drugs

Meditation

Minimally consious states

What is REM sleep

Low voltage, fast changes in EEG

Accompanied by dreams

Paralyzed except eyes, ears, and vegetative functions

Electrical and metabolic activity resembles wakefulness

What causes sleepwalking

Most often occurs during sleep, non-REM sleep early in the night

Explain REM behavioural disorder

Act out dtrams often in a violent physical manner

Explain Lucid Dreaming; what is it, what brain regions are active during lucid dreams

When Dreamer is aware of dreaming 

• Some degree of control over the dream characters, narrative, and environment

• Scientific evidence: time perception, singing vs counting

Prefrontal cortex and parietal lobe allows dreamer to be conscious

Explain psychoactive drugs in terms of what it is and what it does

Chemical that changes states of consiousness, particularly perceptions and moods

Influence how NT operate at synapses of CNS

What difference did researchers find between people given psilocybin and those given a non-psychedlic compound

People given psilocybin showed much greater cross linking between brain regions, meaning different brain regions communicated more freely than usual. In contrast, those given a non-psychedelic compound showed normal, limited communication between specific networks. This increases connectivity under psilocybin is linked to altered state of consiousness and more integrated brain activity

Fill in the blanks: ____ in ____ appreared to reflect a ___ and ____ consious state

Randomness in brain activity appeared to reflect a deeper and richer conscious state

Name an exercise of consciousness that result in the expansion of consiousness beyond the day-today epxerience

Transcendental Meditation

What is Transcendental meditation

Mind settles inward until you transcend to a state of pure consciousness

• So the mind is said to “settle inward,” meaning it becomes calm, quiet, and focused inwardly rather than outwardly.

What term is used to describe altered state of consiousness that may be induced by hypnosis, drugs, or ritual

Trance State

• Example is: Slain in the spirit = individual falls to the floor while experiencing religious ectasy

What is the ideomotor effect

When muscles move subconsciously when the movement is an expected one (like a oujie board)

What part of the brain is responsible for coordination of conscious awareness

Claustrum