Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Psychophysiology. 2011 Nov;48(11):1532-1543. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01226.x. Epub 2011 Jul 18.
The adaptive gain theory highlights the pivotal role of the locus coeruleus-noradrenergic (LC-NE) system in regulating task engagement. In humans, however, LC-NE functional dynamics remain largely unknown. We evaluated the utility of two candidate psychophysiological markers of LC-NE activity: the P3 event-related potential and pupil diameter. Electroencephalogram and pupillometry data were collected from 24 participants who performed a 37-min auditory oddball task. As predicted by the adaptive gain theory, prestimulus pupil diameter exhibited an inverted U-shaped relationship to P3 and task performance such that largest P3 amplitudes and optimal performance occurred at the same intermediate level of pupil diameter. Large phasic pupil dilations, by contrast, were elicited during periods of poor performance and were followed by reengagement in the task and increased P3 amplitudes. These results support recent proposals that pupil diameter and the P3 are sensitive to LC-NE mode.
适应增益理论强调蓝斑-去甲肾上腺素（LC-NE）系统在调节任务参与中的关键作用。然而，在人类中，LC-NE 的功能动力学在很大程度上仍是未知的。我们评估了两种候选的 LC-NE 活动的心理生理学标记物的效用：P3 事件相关电位和瞳孔直径。从 24 名参与者那里收集了脑电图和瞳孔测量数据，他们执行了 37 分钟的听觉Oddball 任务。正如适应增益理论所预测的那样，在刺激前瞳孔直径与 P3 和任务表现呈倒 U 形关系，即最大的 P3 幅度和最佳表现出现在相同的瞳孔直径中间水平。相比之下，大的阶段性瞳孔扩张是在表现不佳的时期引起的，之后是重新参与任务和增加 P3 幅度。这些结果支持了最近的建议，即瞳孔直径和 P3 对 LC-NE 模式敏感。
