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

May 8th 2024

midbrain

n. a relatively small region of the upper brainstem that connects the forebrain and hindbrain. It contains the tectum (and associated inferior and superior colliculi), tegmentum, and substantia nigra. Also called mesencephalon.