Cognition: Arousal & Attention

Front 1

What is "cognition"?

Back 1

1. Ability of the brain to process, store, retrieve, and manipulate information.
2. Involveds registration, attention, motivtion, perception, memory, language, processing of emotions, and xecutive function.

Front 2

Is sleep an occupation?

Back 2

Yes

Front 3

How many stages of sleep?

Back 3

Five!

Front 4

What is "stage 1" sleep?

Back 4

1. Beginning of the sleep = Light sleep.
2. Transition between wakefulness & sleep.
3. Very slow brain waves = theta waves.
4. About 4-5% = Last about 5-10 minutes.

Front 5

What is "stage 2" sleep?

Back 5

1. Burst of rapid, rhythmic brain wave = sleep spindles.
2. Body temp starts to decrease and heart rate begin to slow.
3. About 4-55% = Last about 20 minutes.

Front 6

What is "stage 3" sleep?

Back 6

1. Transition between light sleep and deep sleep.
2. Deep, slow brain waves = delta waves emerges.
3. About 4-6%.

Front 7

What is "stage 4" sleep?

Back 7

1. Deep sleep.
2. Slow brain waves = delta waves.
3. About 12-15% = Last about 30 minutes.
4. Bed-wetting and sleep walking ocures at the end of stage 4 sleep.

Front 8

What is "stage 5" sleep?

Back 8

1. REM sleep = Rapid Eye Movement Sleep.
2. Increased eye movement, increased respiration rate, and rapid and low voltage EEG.
3. Paradoxical sleep = The brain and other body systems become more active but muscles become more relaxed.
4. Dreaming occurs in stage 5 sleep = Increased brain activity, but voluntary muscles become paralyzed.
5. About 20-25%.

Front 9

What happen when one enters sleep?

Back 9

1. Moderate postsynaptic inhibition of the alpha motor neurons in the brain stem and spinal cord = Muscle relaxation = Inhibition.
2. Parasympathetic system dominate = Rest & Digest!

Front 10

What happen during the sleep?

Back 10

1. Intense postsynaptic inhibition of motor neurons and presynaptic inhibition of all sensory systems.
2. The nervous system cuts itself off from the exteiror world.

Front 11

What is "Sleep Disorder"?

Back 11

Sleep disorders involve any difficulties related to sleeping.

Front 12

What is "Insomnia"?

Back 12

1. Difficulty initiating and maintaining sleep.
2. Over 40% of American experience some form of insomnia.

Front 13

What is "Sleep Apnea"?

Back 13

Pauses in breating during sleep.

Front 14

What is "Hypersomnia"?

Back 14

1. Too much sleep.
2. Recurrent episodes of excessive daytime sleepiness or prolonged nighttime sleep.

Front 15

What is "Narcolepsy"?

Back 15

1. Type of Hypersomnia.
2. Excessive daytime sleepiness.

Front 16

Whatis "Parasomnia"?

Back 16

1. Disorders that intrude into sleep prcess & create disruptive sleep-relate events.
2. Involve abnormal and unnatural movements, behaviors, emotions, perceptions.

Front 17

What is "Somnambulism"?

Back 17

1. Type of Parasomnia.
2. Sleep walking.

Front 18

What is "Night Terror"?

Back 18

1. Type of Parasomnia.
2. Extreme terror and a temporary inability to regain full consciousness.
3. Rarely be recalled by the subject.

Front 19

What is "Nightmares"?

Back 19

1. Type of Parasomnia.
2. A dream that can cause a strong negative emotional response from the sleeper.
3. Typically fear and/or horror.

Front 20

What is the definition of "Arousal"?

Back 20

1. Transition from a sleep to a waking state.

Front 21

What is "Circadian rhythm"?

Back 21

Regular changes in mntal and physical characteristics that occur in the course of a day.

Front 22

What is "Syncope"?

Back 22

1. Partial or complete loss of consciousness with interruption of awareness of oneself and ones surroundings.
2. Loss of consciousness is temporary.
3. Spontaneous recovery.

Front 23

What is "Coma"?

Back 23

1. Profound loss of consciousness.
2. A person in a coma cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to pain, light or sound, does not have sleep-wake cycles, and does not take voluntary actions.

Front 24

What is "Alertness"?

Back 24

1. Transition from waking to an attentive state.
2. Dependent on sensory registration at a conscious level.

Front 25

What is "Attention"?

Back 25

The act of directing the mind to an object.

Front 26

List 4 types of attention.

Back 26

1. Sustanined attention.
2. Selective attention.
3. Alternating attention.
4. Divided attention.

Front 27

What is "Sustained attention"?

Back 27

1. Ability to direct and focus cognitive activity on a specific stimulus for a needed period fo time.

Front 28

List and explain 3 stages of sustained attention.

Back 28

1. Attention getting = The initial orientation or alert ot stimulus.
2. Attention holding = Maintenance of attention when a stimulus is novel or intricate.
3. Attention releasing = Stop attending to stimulus and turn to something else.

Front 29

What is "Selective attention"?

Back 29

1. Ability to select and focus on one type of information to the exclusion of others.
2. Read the list of words and then go back and tell the color of each word = Selective focus task.

Front 30

What is "Alternating attention"?

Back 30

1. The ability to shift focus of attention from one task to another.

Front 31

What is "Divided attention"?

Back 31

1. Ability to respond stimultaneously to multiple tasks.
2. Driving while talking on the phone, driving while texting, etc.

Front 32

What is "Sensory modulation"?

Back 32

1. Body's ability to modulate sensory information.
2. Allows a person to respond to what is relevant, not respond to what is not relevant, and do so in a manner that promotes adaptation to the environment.
3. Ayre "The process of increasing or reducing activity to keep the activity in harmony with all function of the nervous system".

Front 33

What neurla mechanisms involved with attention, alertness and arousal? List 3 main mechanisms.

Back 33

1. Reticular Formation (RAS)
2. Hypothalamus.
3. Limbic System.

Front 34

What other neural mechanisms involved with attention, alertness and arousal? List 3 involved mechanisms.

Back 34

1. Cerebellum.
2. Basal Ganglia.
3. Prefrontal Cortex.

Front 35

What is "Reticular Formation"?

Back 35

1. Located in the brainstem.
2. Diffuse network of neurons.
3. An integrator of NS activity.
4. Has ascending (sensory) and descending (motor) projections.

Front 36

Describe function of "Reticular Formation"?

Back 36

1. Integrate sensory and cortical information.
2. Regulate somatic motor activity, autonomic functions, consciousness, and sleep.
3. Modulate pain information.

Front 37

What is "Reticular Activating System (RAS)"?

Back 37

1. Axons project to cerebral components of consciousness system.
2. Projection coming from RAS goes to the thalamus.
3. Normal sleep-wake cycles.
4. Ability to direct attention while awake.
5. Influences sleep.

Front 38

What is the major nuclei for Reticular Formation? List 2

Back 38

1. Raphe Nuclei.
2. Locus Ceruleus.

Front 39

Describe function of "Raphe Nuclei" in Reticular Formation.

Back 39

1. Produce neurotransmitter "Serotonin".
2. Helps modulate pain = Inhibit transmission of pain.
3. Contributes to sensory and limbic circuitry.
4. Contributes to emotions, behavior regulation and arousal.
5. Inhibits transmission of pain stimul.
6. Influence on Non-REM sleep.

Front 40

Describe functin of "Locus Ceruleus" in Reticular Formation.

Back 40

1. Produce neurotransmitter "norepinephrine".
2. Most active when a person is attentive.
3. Important in maintaining attention, vigilance.
4. Ability to re-direct attention.
5. Inactive during sleep.

Front 41

What is Limbic System?

Back 41

1. In between consciousness & unconsciousness.
2. Made of hippocampus, amygdala, fornix, thalamus and septum.

Front 42

Where is Limbic System Located?

Back 42

1. Border between diencephalon and telencephalon = Deep in temporal lobe!
2. Form the inner border of cortex.

Front 43

What is function of Limbic System?

Back 43

1. Together with hypothalamus, controls emotion, affect, behavior, sexual behavior,
long term memory, and olfaction.
2. All sensory systems provide vast amount of highly processed input to the limbic system.

Front 44

What "Hippocampus" do in limbic system?

Back 44

1. Memory.
2. Alertness and attention.
3. Formation of long-term memory.
4. Cognitive map of navigation.

Front 45

What "Amygdala" do in limbic system?

Back 45

1. Emotional responses.
2. Memory.
3. Hormonal secretions.
4. Social function = sexual behavior.
5. Reward & fear.

Front 46

What "Fornix" do in limbic system?

Back 46

Carries signals from the hippocampus to the mammillary bodies and septal nuclei.

Front 47

What "Thalamus" do in limbic system?

Back 47

Relay station to the cerebral cortex.

Front 48

What "Septum" do in limbic system?

Back 48

1. Modulate hypothalamic function.
2. Extensive reciprocal connections with the hippocampus (via fornix).
3. Projects to the habenula nuclei via the stria medullaris thalami.

Front 49

What is the main function of "Hypothalamus" in limbic system?

Back 49

1. Homeostass.
2. Regulates the autonomic nervous system via hormone production and release.
3. Secretion of hormones.
4. Works together with other limbic structures.
5. Regulatory function = Connectio with pituitary gland.

Front 50

What other functions of "Hypothalamus" in limbic system?

Back 50

5. Control emotional and motivational states (rage/fear).
1. Control level of arousal/awareness.
2. Food intake.
3. Sexual behavior.
4. Sleep/wake cycle.
5. Fight/Flight = Sympathetic system.

Front 51

What is "Regulatory disorder"?

Back 51

1. Sensitivity to sound, touch, etc.
2. In infants = Problem sleeping, self-consoling, eating, arousal, mood regulations, or transition.
3. In young children = Irritability, hypersensitivity to sights, sound, touch, hyperactivity and lack of behavioral organizaion may be present, need external structure, stereotypic play, resistance to change.

Front 52

What is "Sensory modulation disorder"?

Back 52

1. Inability to take in sensory information and modulate.
2. A pattern of SI dysfunctin in which a person under or over responds to sensory input from the body or the environment = Mismatch.
3. Hypothesized neurological connections = Limbic system, reticular formation.
4. Gravitational insecurity.
5. Hypersensitivity to touch.

Front 53

What is the symptoms of "Attention Deficit Disorder"?

Back 53

1. Difficulty sustaining attention, with onset during childhood.
2. Display inappropriate inattention and impulsiveness.

Front 54

What causes "Attention Deficit Disorder"?

Back 54

1. Etiology is unknow but suggested = Abnormal function of circuits linking prefrontal cortex, striatum and cerebllum.
2. Areas of brain that control attention and inhibit impulses are less active.

Front 55

What areas of brain are associated with "Attention Deficit Disorder"?

Back 55

1. Frontal Lobes = Help focuss attention.
2. Inhibitory mechanisms of the cortex.
3. Limbic system.
4. Reticular Activating System (RAS).
5. Suggested 3~4% smaller brain volumes in all regions.
6. Reduced activation withing the basal ganglia.

Front 56

What medication is used to treat "Attention Deficit Disorder" and why?

Back 56

1. Ritalin.
2. Influencs dopamine neurotransmission.

Front 57

What is "Autisum"?

Back 57

1. Autism is a spectrum.
2. Difficulties with communication and social interaction.
3. Repetitive behavior and play.
4. Restricted interest.
5. Appears to lack motivation.

Front 58

What is the theories behind causes of "Autism"?

Back 58

1. Abnormalities in the cerebellum and limbic system.
2. Decreased size of posterior lobe of cerebellum.
3. Decreased number of Purkinje cells.
4. Denssly packed and small neurons in the amygdala and hippocampus.