Mannarelli Daniela, Pauletti Caterina, Mancini Patrizia, Fioretti Alessandra, Greco Antonio, De Vincentiis Marco, Fattapposta Francesco
Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale dell'Università 30, Rome, Italy.
Department of Sense Organs, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale dell'Università 31, Rome, Italy.
Clin Neurophysiol. 2017 Mar;128(3):411-417. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2016.12.028. Epub 2017 Jan 16.
Tinnitus is an auditory phantom sensation experienced in the absence of a sound source. Cognitive dysfunctions, especially in working memory and attention, are frequently reported to be associated with tinnitus. The aim of this study was to investigate attentional functioning in a group of subjects with chronic tinnitus using ERPs, and in particular the P300 components.
We studied 20 patients with chronic tinnitus and 20 healthy subjects that performed a P300 Novelty task.
P3a amplitude was significantly lower in tinnitus subjects than in controls. P3a latency was comparable in patients and controls. The P3b parameters were similar in the two groups. N1 latency for all the stimuli was significantly longer in tinnitus subjects than in controls.
These results point to a general slowing in early stimulus perception in tinnitus subjects. Moreover, a specific difficulty emerged in attentional switching to unexpected events during an orienting response, probably owing to a dysfunction in the ventral attention network.
Psychophysiological approach reveals selective attentional impairment and could provide useful data for rehabilitative strategies in chronic tinnitus.
耳鸣是在没有声源的情况下所经历的一种听觉幻感。认知功能障碍，尤其是工作记忆和注意力方面的障碍，经常被报道与耳鸣有关。本研究的目的是使用事件相关电位（ERPs）来调查一组慢性耳鸣患者的注意力功能，特别是P300成分。
我们研究了20名慢性耳鸣患者和20名健康受试者，他们完成了一项P300新奇任务。
耳鸣患者的P3a波幅显著低于对照组。耳鸣患者和对照组的P3a潜伏期相当。两组的P3b参数相似。耳鸣患者对所有刺激的N1潜伏期均显著长于对照组。
这些结果表明耳鸣患者早期刺激感知普遍减慢。此外，在定向反应过程中，注意力转向意外事件时出现了特定困难，这可能是由于腹侧注意力网络功能障碍所致。
心理生理学方法揭示了选择性注意力损害，并可为慢性耳鸣的康复策略提供有用数据。
