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Questions and Answers
What is the primary issue with internal distractions?
What is the term for the ability to maintain attention over extended time frames?
What is the primary characteristic of divided attention?
What is the purpose of alerting cues in assessing attention and arousal?
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What is the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test used to assess?
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What is the primary difference between sustained attention and vigilance?
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What is the primary characteristic of people who have difficulty with sustained attention?
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What is the purpose of behavioral observation in assessing attention and arousal?
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What is the primary difference between attention and arousal?
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What is the primary consequence of decreased attention span?
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Study Notes
Types of Attention
- Attention can be divided into three types: Sustained Attention, Selective Attention, and Divided Attention.
Sustained Attention
- Baseline for all information processing, including arousal and alertness.
- Arousal has a physiological basis in the activity of the reticular formation in the brain stem.
- Moderate levels of arousal are necessary for tasks that use fine motor skills and important decision making.
- Alertness is a state from wakeful to "prepared for action" state when we respond to stimuli.
- Vigilance is alertness that is maintained over a period of time to detect any changes in the environment.
- Attention span is the length of time a person can sustain attention.
- Examples of tasks that require sustained attention: Invigilating an examination, watching a child playing alone, observing a patient in occupational therapy, and motorway driving.
Selective Attention
- Directs attention to particular features of the environment and ignores other stimuli.
- Involves sensory discrimination (visual or auditory) and spatial processing.
- Ability to disengage from one selected item, move, and engage attention on another source of information is known as attention shifting.
- Important in activities that require a conscious focus of attention.
- Example: Reading a newspaper in a noisy room.
Divided Attention
- Ability to do more than one thing at a time.
- The quality of divided attention can be improved with training on a few tasks.
- Examples of tasks that require divided attention: Driving a car while having a conversation, and sewing while watching television.
Attention Demand
- Demand of attention capacity varies.
- Mental effort: High mental effort requires high attention capacity.
- Skill: Skills obtained as a result of repetitive practice reduce the demand of attention.
- Motivation and arousal: Increase the total capacity available for allocation.
Concentration vs. Attention
- Attention is the state of the brain focus.
- Concentration is intense mental focus.
Assessment Methods for Attention
- Arousal: Behavioral observation, such as checking if the individual drifts off to sleep, appears interested in the testing situation, and responds to alerting cues.
- Comparison of performance on simple vs. complex tasks.
- Wisconsin Card Sorting Test.
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Description
Learn about the different types of attention, including sustained attention, selective attention, and divided attention. Understand the role of arousal and alertness in information processing and decision making.
