The Neuropsychology of Attention

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xx

   PDF

2. Foundations of Attention

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. Introduction

      • Ronald A. Cohen

      Pages 3-9

   3. Attention

      • Brian F. O’Donnell, Ronald A. Cohen

      Pages 11-48

   4. Response Selection and the Executive Control of Attention

      • Ronald A. Cohen, Yvonne A. Sparling-Cohen

      Pages 49-73

   5. Contributions of Behavioral Psychology to the Study of Attention

      • Ronald A. Cohen, Yvonne A. Sparling-Cohen

      Pages 75-93

   6. The Orienting Response

      • Ronald A. Cohen

      Pages 95-113

   7. Physiological Substrates of Attention

      • Ronald A. Cohen, Brian F. O’Donnell

      Pages 115-144

   8. Neural Mechanisms of Attention

      • Ronald A. Cohen

      Pages 145-176

   9. Models and Mechanisms of Attention

      • Ronald A. Cohen, Brian F. O’Donnell

      Pages 177-186

3. Neuropsychology of Attention

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 187-187

      PDF

   2. Neuroanatomical Disorders of Attention Affecting Sensory Selection

      • Ronald A. Cohen

      Pages 189-218

   3. Attentional Control

      • Ronald A. Cohen

      Pages 219-253

   4. Disturbances of Attention

      • Ronald A. Cohen, Brian F. O’Donnell

      Pages 255-274

   5. Attentional Dysfunction Associated with Psychiatric Illness

      • Ronald A. Cohen, Brian F. O’Donnell

      Pages 275-305

   6. Neuropsychological Assessment of Attention

      • Ronald A. Cohen

      Pages 307-327

   7. Neuropsychological Models of Attentional Dysfunction

      • Ronald A. Cohen, Brian F. O’Donnell

      Pages 329-349

4. Toward an Integrated Attentional Framework

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 351-351

      PDF

   2. Consciousness and Self-Directed Attention

      • Ronald A. Cohen

      Pages 353-359

   3. Neural Constraints on Attention

      • Ronald A. Cohen

      Pages 361-373

As you read this, you are probably unaware of how your left foot feels in your shoe. Although your brain was receiving sensory input from this foot, you were not aware of your foot because you were reading and not attending to it. However, this discussion led you to move your attention to your left foot and to become aware of it. When I was a medical student, I saw a patient who was unaware of both the left side of his body and the left side of his environment. Unlike people in normal health, who when instructed can become aware of the left side of the body; this patient could not be made aware of his left arm or the left side of his environment. The patient's defect was so profound that despite being hungry he was unaware of food on the left side of his tray and did not recognize that his left arm belonged to him. This left-sided body and spatial unawareness could not be accounted for by a primary sensory defect. Although I knew that this man suffered from a large right-hemisphere stroke, I did not know the brain mechanisms that accounted for this profound example of unawareness. It was not until I had almost completed my neurology training in 1969 that I was able to return to this problem. At that time, most neuropsychological research was directed at understanding the language disorders associated with brain disease.

• Syndrom
• assessment of attention
• attention
• attention deficit disorder (ADD)
• attention disorders
• brain function
• focused attention
• neglect syndrome
• neuropsychology
• neuropsychology of attention

• University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, USA

  Ronald A. Cohen

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