name or a flash of light, have a strong bottom- up influence on how we perceive our environment. Top-down modulation, however, is goal-related attention. It’s how you choose to focus your
attention when you place a priority on
something important to you. It is what
allows you to perceive those things
more strongly. In our lab, we studied the
processing of visual information based
on a top-down goal using functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
We found that there was more brain
activity when the information is relevant
to you and less when it was irrelevant
to the memory task. That gave us a
neural marker to assess the degree that
someone is paying attention or ignoring
information that we are presenting to
them. This was a powerful tool, because
based on behavior alone, it is very hard
to tell when somebody is ignoring
On nature as intervention…
“There is growing evidence that interacting with
nature has a restorative impact on our minds, especially
when it comes to top-down cognition,” says Gazzaley,
who is also a nature photographer. “I’ve found retreats
into nature are a very restorative act for me. However,
for me, sometimes while in nature, it’s far from
relaxing because I am focusing on a capturing a scene
and the technical aspects of photography. Now I divide
up my time in nature so that I engage in photography
but balance it with other times when I am more
passively engaged in enjoying the environment.”
Seniors Housing Regional
Symposium 2012:
Access to Capital in a Changing Market
March 25-27, 2012 | Boca Raton Resort in Florida
Recognizing and understanding the changing and consolidating market in
the private-pay seniors housing sector is an important step to accessing
capital. Our 2012 Symposium is an investment-focused networking and
educational event that features programming and opportunities for
regionally focused operators, owners and capital providers.
Breakout Sessions and Roundtables Include:
• Who’s Lending on What Terms
• Ready, Set, Deal: Speed Meeting for Lenders and Borrowers
• The Deals You Wish You Never Did
• It Takes More Than a Great Idea to Obtain Capital
For more information or to register
go to www.NICSeniorsHousing.org.
