Imaging Brain Fatigue from Sustained Mental Workload: An ASL Perfusion Study of the Time-On-Task Effect
By Julian Lim, Wen-Chau Wu, Danny J. J. Wang, John A. Detre, David F. Dinges, Hengyi Rao. NeuroImage, 2009
405 citations recorded by the source corpus.
During sustained periods of a taxing cognitive workload, humans typically display time-on-task (TOT) effects, in which performance gets steadily worse over the period of task engagement. Arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used in this study to investigate the neural correlates of TOT effects in a group of 15 subjects as they performed a 20-minute continuous psychomotor vigilance test (PVT). Subjects displayed significant TOT effects, as seen in progressively slower reaction times and significantly increased mental fatigue ratings after the task. Perfusion data showed that the PVT activates a right lateralized fronto-parietal attentional network in addition to the basal ganglia and sensorimotor cortices. The fronto-parietal network was less active during post-task rest compared to pre-task rest, and regional CBF decrease in this network correlated with performance decline. These results demonstrate the persistent effects of cognitive fatigue in the fronto-parietal network after a period of heavy mental work and indicate the critical role of this attentional network in mediating TOT effects. Furthermore, resting regional CBF in the thalamus and right middle frontal gyrus prior to task onset was predictive of subjects' subsequent performance decline, suggesting that resting CBF quantified by ASL perfusion fMRI may be a useful indicator of performance potential and a marker of the level of fatigue in the neural attentional system.
Subfields: Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Pharmacology
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a046870787f6325ade83d3c25ce8cf93464d4e0a
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In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Citations in the corpus
- An opportunity cost model of subjective effort and task performance (2013, neutral): “Three published studies have examined neural activity with functional imaging during prolonged (>20 min) sustained attention tasks (Coull et al. 1998; Lim et al. 2010; Paus et al. 1997).”
- 40-second green roof views sustain attention: The role of micro-breaks in attention restoration (2015, background): “These brain areas are less active after performing demanding tasks, highlighting the persistent effects of depleted mental resources (Lim et al., 2010).”
- Sustaining attention to simple tasks: a meta-analytic review of the neural mechanisms of vigilant attention. (2013, methodology): “Using arterial spin labeling, Lim et al. (2010) measured timerelated changes in brain perfusion during a 20-min detection task.”
- Sleep deprivation reduces default mode network connectivity and anti-correlation during rest and task performance (2012, methodology): “Run 3 of the VATwas selected, to minimize potential confounds such as time on task effects (Lim et al., 2010).”