MCAT Content Review PDF

• • • • • • • • • • o In-attentional blindness is the inability to recognize an unexpected object, event, or stimulus that is in ‘plain sight’. This is due to a psychological lapse in attention, rather than a defect or deficit in sensory perception. o Ex: you can’t say where the nearest fire ext...

• • • • • • • • • • o In-attentional blindness is the inability to recognize an unexpected object, event, or stimulus that is in ‘plain sight’. This is due to a psychological lapse in attention, rather than a defect or deficit in sensory perception. o Ex: you can’t say where the nearest fire extinguisher is because you fail to notice it because your attention is typically elsewhere. This is true even though fire extinguishers are brightly colored and essential to survival (which should bring them to your attention) Change blindness – fail to notice changes from a previous to a current state in environment. (Different from in-attentional blindness, a subtle but importance difference) ex: don’t notice when your mom gets a haircut. o Ex. Famous study done where a person asks a stranger in a big city to give directions. The person is swapped with another person and the direction giver does not notice that this was a different person that they were now giving directions too Distal stimuli are objects and events out in the world about you. Aware of and respond to this – this is what is important. Proximal stimuli are the patterns of stimuli from these objects and events that actually reach your senses (eyes, ears, etc.). It is the light that is actually falling on the retina. Covert orienting is the act of bringing the spotlight of attention on an object or event without body or eye movement. Overt orienting, a person turns all or part of the body to alter or maximize the sensory impact of an event. Attentional capture occurs when attention is attracted by the motion of an object or stimulus. Neglect syndrome - occurs when damage to the brain causes a change or loss in the capacity of the spatial dimension of divided attention. Vigilance attention and signal detection are processes that attempt to detect a signal or target of interest. This allows responses to be primed and quick actions undertaken in response to the signal or target of interest, i.e. a pothole in the road is detected and avoidance actions are undertaken. o Vigilance (like active search, selective attention, and divided attention) is a type of attention. These types of attention are often described as main functions rather than subfunctions of attention. Previous practice on any skill will improve performance. Although too high of an arousal state can be detrimental to attention, enhanced arousal can enhance attention. A person who is skilled at a task will require less attention to complete that task. A difficult or novel task will require more attention than a practiced or skilled task. Alerting attention is affected by regular aging but deficits are not often associated with schizophrenia. Neurotransmitter modulation of this attentional network is associated with norepinephrine produced in the locus ceruleus. 55