scholarly journals The association between media multitasking and executive function in Chinese adolescents: Evidence from self-reported, behavioral and fNIRS data

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiutong Luo ◽  
Hui Li ◽  
Pui-sze Yeung ◽  
Chunqi Chang
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Chinese Adolescents ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Media Multitasking ◽  
Behavioral Measures ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Multiple Assessment ◽  
Stroop Tasks

This study examined the association between media multitasking and executive function in Chinese adolescents by comparing heavy/high and light/low media multitaskers, i.e., HMMs and LMMs, with self-reports, behavioral measures and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The participants were 12 HMMs (media multitasking scores above the 75th percentile) and 10 LMMs (media multitasking scores below the 25th percentile) chosen from a sample of 61 adolescents. Each participant completed a self-reported questionnaire on executive function and three executive function cognitive tasks: 2-back, Color Stroop, and Number-letter Determination) while wearing the fNIRS. The results indicated that: (1) the HMMs showed more impairment in executive function than the LMMs based on questionnaire data analysis; (2) there were no significant differences between the HMMs and LMMs in their performance on the cognitive tasks; and (3) the HMMs showed greater prefrontal activation than the LMMs during the 2-back and Color Stroop tasks. These findings implied that media multitasking might be associated with the reduced effectiveness in the brain areas responsible for executive function. These findings provide evidence of the negative relationship between media multitasking and executive function; and indicated the benefits of using multiple assessment methods in studying this topic.

scholarly journals Viewing Fantastical Events in Animated Television Shows: Immediate Effects on Chinese Preschoolers’ Executive Function

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Li ◽  
Yeh Hsueh ◽  
Haoxue Yu ◽  
Katherine M. Kitzmann
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Behavioral Measures ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Television Shows ◽  
Frequency Group ◽  
Negative Effect

Three experiments were conducted to test whether watching an animated show with frequent fantastical events decreased Chinese preschoolers’ post-viewing executive function (EF), and to test possible mechanisms of this effect. In all three experiments, children were randomly assigned to watch a video with either frequent or infrequent fantastical events; their EF was immediately assessed after viewing, using behavioral measures of working memory, sustained attention, and cognitive flexibility. Parents completed a questionnaire to assess preschoolers’ hyperactivity level as a potential confounding variable. In Experiment 1 (N = 90), which also included a control group, there was an immediate negative effect of watching frequent fantastical events, as seen in lower scores on the behavioral EF tasks. In Experiment 2 (N = 20), eye tracking data showed more but shorter eye fixations in the high frequency group, suggesting a higher demand on cognitive resources; this group also did more poorly on behavioral measures of EF. In Experiment 3 (N = 20), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data showed that the high frequency group had a higher concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin (Coxy-Hb), an indicator of higher brain activation consistent with a greater use of cognitive resources; this group also had lower scores on the behavioral EF tasks. The findings are discussed in reference to models of limited cognitive resources.

scholarly journals fNIRS Outcomes for a Pilot Clinical Trial Combining Frontal tDCS With Walking Rehabilitation in Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 792-793
Author(s):  
David Clark ◽  
Sudeshna Chatterjee ◽  
Jared Skinner ◽  
Paige Lysne ◽  
Samuel Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Outcome Measures ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Neural Circuits ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Active Complex ◽  
Multiple Tests ◽  
Walking Rehabilitation ◽  
Primary Hypothesis

Abstract This pilot study assessed a novel intervention to enhance both walking and executive function in older adults. The primary hypothesis was that eighteen sessions of frontal lobe tDCS combined with walking rehabilitation would be feasible, safe, and show preliminary efficacy. Eighteen participants were randomized to one of three intervention groups: active tDCS and rehabilitation with complex walking tasks (Active/Complex); sham tDCS and rehabilitation with complex walking tasks (Sham/Complex); or sham tDCS and rehabilitation with typical walking (Sham/Typical). Outcome measures included multiple tests of walking function, executive function, and prefrontal activity during walking as measured by functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Of the three groups, the Active/Complex group demonstrated the broadest improvements across outcome measures including for prefrontal activity. The functional range of prefrontal activity in this group was increased considerably, as conceptualized by the Compensation Related Utilization of Neural Circuits Hypothesis. Frontal tDCS is a promising adjuvant to walking rehabilitation.

Bilingual effects on cognitive shifting and prefrontal activations in young children

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 729-739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuke Moriguchi ◽  
Kanda Lertladaluck
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Nursery School ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Cognitive Shifting

Aims and objectives: Bilingual children constantly experience spontaneous switching between languages in everyday settings, and some researchers suggest that this experience leads to an advantage in task performance during executive function tasks. Neural processing during executive function tasks remains largely unknown, especially in young bilingual children. Methodology: Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, this study examined whether young children who attended an immersion second-language program demonstrated enhanced cognitive shifting and lateral prefrontal activation. Data and analysis: We recruited children ( N = 24) who attended an international nursery school, and examined whether their performance on cognitive shifting, and whether the oxygenated hemoglobin changes in the prefrontal regions during the task, were correlated with the children’s second-language verbal age and the length of time the children had been speaking the second language. Findings: Results revealed that the verbal age of the second language and the length of time speaking it were significantly correlated with behavioral performances of cognitive shifting tasks. However, they were not correlated with the activations in the lateral prefrontal regions. Originality: We examined the neural correlates of bilingual effects on cognitive shifting and prefrontal activations in young children. Implications: The results suggest that second-language experience may not be directly related to neural processing in the lateral prefrontal cortex, at least in young children.

scholarly journals Tablet Use Affects Preschoolers’ Executive Function: fNIRS Evidence from the Dimensional Change Card Sort Task

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Li ◽  
Dandan Wu ◽  
Jinfeng Yang ◽  
Jiutong Luo ◽  
Sha Xie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Dimensional Change ◽  
Heavy User ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Card Sort ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Dimensional Change Card Sort

This study aims to examine the impact of tablet use on preschoolers’ executive function during the Dimensional Change Card Sort Task (DCCS) task using the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Altogether 38 Chinese preschoolers (Mage = 5.0 years, SD = 0.69 years, 17 girls) completed the tasks before the COVID-19 lockdown. Eight children never used tablets, while 16 children were diagnosed as the ‘heavy-user'. The results indicated that: (1) the 'Non-user' outperformed the 'Heavy-user' with a significantly higher correct rate in the DCCS task; (2) the two groups differed significantly in the activation of the prefrontal cortex (BA 9): the 'Non-user' pattern is normal and healthy, whereas the 'Heavy-user' pattern is not normal and needs further exploration.

scholarly journals Response of Prefrontal Cortex to Executive Function Tasks in Early Childhood: An Exploratory Case Study for Childcare

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Nobuki Watanabe
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Child Support ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Exploratory Case Study

Executive function (EF) development is remarkable in early childhood. EF is an ability that provides a foundation for future success; accordingly, supporting children during their early childhood is crucial. So far, there have been many findings on EF in early childhood based on behavioral observation. This exploratory case study examines the measurement of prefrontal cortex activity during the performance of EF tasks using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). This study aims to explore the following hypothesis. (1) The prefrontal cortex during early childhood becomes more active as a task becomes more difficult. (2) However, brain activity decreases and stabilizes as time progresses. (3) The evaluation can be easily measured with two-channel fNIRS. Experimental results showed that the preschooler and the child in lower elementary school displayed high levels of brain activity in the order of increasing difficulty in terms of behavioral indicators. Moreover, the preschooler showed higher levels of reaction than the child in lower elementary school. This result is useful and will broaden the perspectives of scholars in the fields of psychology, pedagogy, and neuroscience, those involved in child support.

Diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment Using Cognitive Tasks: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (13) ◽  
pp. 1145-1160
Author(s):  
So-Hyeon Yoo ◽  
Seong-Woo Woo ◽  
Myung-Jun Shin ◽  
Jin A. Yoon ◽  
Yong-Il Shin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Feature Extraction ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Extraction Method ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Feature Extraction Method ◽  
T Values

Background: Early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is essential in preventing its progression to dementia. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) can be indicative of early-stage AD. In this study, we propose a channel-wise feature extraction method of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data to diagnose MCI when performing cognitive tasks, including two-back, Stroop, and semantic verbal fluency tasks (SVFT). Methods: A new channel-wise feature extraction method is proposed as follows: A region-of-interest (ROI) channel is defined as such channel having a statistical difference (p < 0.05) in t-values between two groups. For each ROI channel, features (the mean, slope, skewness, kurtosis, and peak value of oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin) are extracted. The extracted features for the two classes (MCI, HC) are classified using the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and support vector machine (SVM). Finally, the classifiers are validated using the area under curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristics. Furthermore, the suggested feature extraction method is compared with the conventional approach. Fifteen MCI patients and fifteen healthy controls (HCs) participated in the study. Results: In the two-back and Stroop tasks, HCs showed activation in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC). However, in the case of MCI, the VLPFC was not activated. Instead, Ch. 30 was activated. In the SVFT task, the PFC was activated in both groups, but the t-values of HCs were higher than those of MCI. For the SVFT, the classification accuracies using the proposed feature extraction method were 80.77% (LDA) and 83.33% (SVM), showing the highest among the three tasks; for the Stroop task, 79.49% (LDA) and 73.08% (SVM); and for the two-back task, 73.08% (LDA) and 69.23% (SVM). Conclusion: The cognitive disparities between the MCI and HC groups were detected in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex using fNIRS. The proposed feature extraction method has shown an improvement in the classification accuracies, see Subsection 3.3. Most of all, the suggested method contains a groupdistinction information per cognitive task. The obtained results successfully discriminated MCI patients from HCs, which reflects that the proposed method is an efficient tool to extract features in fNIRS signals.

scholarly journals Hemispheric Lateralization of Visuospatial Attention Is Independent of Language Production on Right-Handers: Evidence From Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaoding Jia ◽  
Guangfang Liu ◽  
Haijing Niu
Keyword(s):  
Picture Naming ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Visuospatial Attention ◽  
Hemispheric Lateralization ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
The Right

It is well-established that visuospatial attention is mainly lateralized to the right hemisphere, whereas language production is mainly left-lateralized. However, there is a significant controversy regarding how these two kinds of lateralization interact with each other. The present research used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine whether visuospatial attention is indeed right-lateralized, whereas language production is left-lateralized, and more importantly, whether the extent of lateralization in the visuospatial task is correlated with that in the task involving language. Specifically, fifty-two healthy right-handed participants participated in this study. Multiple-channel fNIRS technique was utilized to record the cerebral hemodynamic changes when participants were engaged in naming objects depicted in pictures (the picture naming task) or judging whether a presented line was bisected correctly (the landmark task). The degree of hemispheric lateralization was quantified according to the activation difference between the left and right hemispheres. We found that the picture-naming task predominantly activated the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) of the left hemisphere. In contrast, the landmark task predominantly activated the inferior parietal sulcus (IPS) and superior parietal lobule (SPL) of the right hemisphere. The quantitative calculation of the laterality index also showed a left-lateralized distribution for the picture-naming task and a right-lateralized distribution for the landmark task. Intriguingly, the correlation analysis revealed no significant correlation between the laterality indices of these two tasks. Our findings support the independent hypothesis, suggesting that different cognitive tasks may engender lateralized processing in the brain, but these lateralized activities may be independent of each other. Meanwhile, we stress the importance of handedness in understanding the relationship between functional asymmetries. Methodologically, we demonstrated the effectiveness of using the multichannel fNIRS technique to investigate the hemispheric specialization of different cognitive tasks and their lateralization relations between different tasks. Our findings and methods may have important implications for future research to explore lateralization-related issues in individuals with neural pathologies.

scholarly journals Brain Activity in the Prefrontal Cortex during Cognitive Tasks and Dual Tasks in Community-Dwelling Elderly People with Pre-Frailty: A Pilot Study for Early Detection of Cognitive Decline

Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1250
Author(s):  
Kohei Maruya ◽  
Tomoyuki Arai ◽  
Hiroaki Fujita
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Healthy Group ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Right

We aimed to detect brain abnormalities during cognitive and motor tasks in older individuals with pre-frailty, as this could prevent dementia. Sixty elderly participants (mean age: 76.3 years; 27 healthy and 33 with pre-frailty) were included, and their motor function, cognitive function, and dual-task abilities (gait with calculation and while carrying a ball) were evaluated. Total hemoglobin (t-Hb) was measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) during tasks and resting periods. The pre-frailty group had a slightly lower gait speed than the healthy group, but there was no significant difference in cognitive function. In the pre-frailty group, the t-Hb values during the normal gait and cognitive tasks were higher than the resting value in the right prefrontal cortex, while in the healthy group, only the word frequency task (WFT) was higher. Furthermore, in the WFT, the t-Hb values were significantly lower in the pre-frailty group than in the healthy group. The results showed that pre-frail subjects had lower brain activation during the WFT in the right prefrontal cortex and excessive activity during walking, even without a noticeable cognitive decline. The differences in cerebral blood flow under the pre-frailty conditions may be a clue to detecting cognitive decline earlier.

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