drifting attention

a disorder marked by a tendency to maintain attention for a short period, when alerted, but then to drift back to a somnolent state. It is caused by disturbance of the subcortical alerting mechanisms, which usually indicates pathological involvement of the midbrain or thalamic portion of the reticular activating system. See also wandering attention.

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Psychology term of the day

January 31st 2025

leuco- (leuc-; leuko-; leuk-)

Sorry, "leuco-leuc-leuko-leuk" is not in the Dictionary of Psychology. Please report to APA if you believe this is an error.