The effects of sleep deprivation on vigilance and neural activation during the Sustained Attention to Response Task

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johnny Soares
Keyword(s):  
Sleep Deprivation ◽  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Normal Sleep ◽  
Response Task ◽  
Error Percentage ◽  
Healthy Participants

The effects of sleep deprivation on vigilance and neural activation during the Sustained Attention to Response TaskIntroduction: Sleep deprivation is common and can result in impaired vigilance with fatal consequences, but little is known about effects of sleep deprivation on neural activation. With functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), neural activation associated with an attention-demanding task such as the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) can be visualized and analyzed. This is one of the first studies combining SART with fMRI to study total sleep deprivation. Aims: This study aimed to determine how sleep deprivation affects vigilance and neural activation during the SART. Primary outcomes are the number of errors committed during the SART and fMRI activity associated to the SART task. Material and Methods: This cross-over study compares sleep deprivation and full sleep. 9 healthy participants (6 males and 3 females) with normal sleep patterns were included. Participants were randomized to undergo both conditions in counterbalanced order and were planned for a total of three different MRI sessions and two SART evaluations. Results: No SART results were statistically significant, however there was a tendency of increased error percentage in the sleep deprived condition. There was no strong tendency of longer response times in sleep deprived condition. Clusters of neural activation were observed in areas associated with the executive network. However, none were statistically significant. Conclusions: This study suggests that SART performance regarding accuracy may be affected by sleep deprivation; however response times are not. No significant effect of sleep deprivation on neural activation was found, however indications of areas related to vigilance were located in expected areas.

scholarly journals Choosing to Make an Effort: The Role of Striatum in Signaling Physical Effort of a Chosen Action

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (1) ◽  
pp. 313-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. T. Kurniawan ◽  
B. Seymour ◽  
D. Talmi ◽  
W. Yoshida ◽  
N. Chater ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Choice Behavior ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Physical Effort ◽  
Actual Choice ◽  
Healthy Participants ◽  
High Effort ◽  
Future Choice

The possibility that we will have to invest effort influences our future choice behavior. Indeed deciding whether an action is actually worth taking is a key element in the expression of human apathy or inertia. There is a well developed literature on brain activity related to the anticipation of effort, but how effort affects actual choice is less well understood. Furthermore, prior work is largely restricted to mental as opposed to physical effort or has confounded temporal with effortful costs. Here we investigated choice behavior and brain activity, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, in a study where healthy participants are required to make decisions between effortful gripping, where the factors of force (high and low) and reward (high and low) were varied, and a choice of merely holding a grip device for minimal monetary reward. Behaviorally, we show that force level influences the likelihood of choosing an effortful grip. We observed greater activity in the putamen when participants opt to grip an option with low effort compared with when they opt to grip an option with high effort. The results suggest that, over and above a nonspecific role in movement anticipation and salience, the putamen plays a crucial role in computations for choice that involves effort costs.

scholarly journals Increased neural reactivity to emotional pictures in men with high hair testosterone concentrations

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 1009-1016
Author(s):  
Sanja Klein ◽  
Onno Kruse ◽  
Isabell Tapia León ◽  
Tobias Stalder ◽  
Rudolf Stark ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Testosterone Levels ◽  
Passive Viewing ◽  
Emotional Pictures ◽  
Neural Reactivity ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Testosterone has been linked to alterations in the activity of emotion neurocircuitry including amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and insula and diminished functional amygdala/prefrontal coupling. Such associations have only ever been studied using acute measures of testosterone, thus little is known about respective relationships with long-term testosterone secretion. Here, we examine associations between hair testosterone concentration (HTC), an index of long-term cumulative testosterone levels and neural reactivity during an emotional passive viewing task using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Forty-six men viewed negative, positive and neutral pictures in the MRI. HTCs were assessed from 2 cm hair segments. The emotional paradigm elicited neural activation in the amygdala, insula and OFC. HTCs were associated with increased reactivity to negative pictures in the insula and increased reactivity to positive pictures in the OFC. We show an association of long-term testosterone levels with increased emotional reactivity in the brain. These results suggest a heightened emotional vigilance in individuals with high trait testosterone levels.

scholarly journals Anterior insular cortex plays a critical role in interoceptive attention

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingchao Wang ◽  
Qiong Wu ◽  
Laura Egan ◽  
Xiaosi Gu ◽  
Pinan Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Insular Cortex ◽  
The Body ◽  
Physiological Signals ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Discrimination Accuracy ◽  
Anterior Insular Cortex ◽  
Interoceptive Accuracy ◽  
Healthy Participants

AbstractAlthough accumulating evidence indicates that the anterior insular cortex (AIC) mediates interoceptive attention, which refers the attention towards physiological signals arising from the body, the necessity of the AIC in this process has not been demonstrated. Using a novel task that directs attention toward breathing rhythm, we assessed the involvement of the AIC in interoceptive attention in healthy participants using functional magnetic resonance imaging and examined the necessity of the AIC in interoceptive attention in patients with AIC lesions. We found that interoceptive attention was associated with greater AIC activation, as well as enhanced coupling between the AIC and somatosensory area along with reduced coupling between AIC and visual sensory areas. AIC activation and connectivity were predictive of individual differences in interoceptive accuracy. Importantly, AIC lesion patients showed disrupted interoceptive discrimination accuracy and sensitivity. Together, these results provide compelling evidence that AIC plays a critical role in interoceptive attention.

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