Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas (IIPsi), CONICET-UNC, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Boulevard de la Reforma esquina Enfermera Gordillo, CP 5000. Córdoba, Argentina; Department of Experimental Psychology, and Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Campus de Cartuja S/N, CP 18011, Granada, Spain.
Department of Experimental Psychology, and Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Campus de Cartuja S/N, CP 18011, Granada, Spain.
Behav Brain Res. 2021 Mar 5;401:113079. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.113079. Epub 2020 Dec 25.
Nowadays, there is considerable controversy regarding the structural connectivity underlying the attentional networks system (i.e., alerting and vigilance, orienting, and executive control). The present study aimed at further examining and dissociating the white matter connectivity underlying attentional and vigilance functioning by overcoming some critical limitations in previous research. To this end, we performed virtual in vivo dissections of attention-related white matter tracts from thirty healthy adults. Participants completed two sessions of the Attentional Networks Test for Interactions and Vigilance, a suitable task to assess simultaneously phasic alertness, orienting, executive control, and the executive component of vigilance (i.e., the ability to detect infrequent critical signals). Whereas we found a consistent correlation between phasic alertness and both the right dorsolateral prefrontal caudate tract and the splenium of the corpus callosum, evidence obtained for white matter connectivity underlying orienting, executive control, and executive vigilance, was either weak at the best, inconsistent, or null. White matter connectivity seemed to support nevertheless the most reliable performance: overall reaction time for attentional functioning was significantly associated with the left cingulate fasciculus and overall reaction time for executive vigilance was significantly linked to the bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus I. The present outcomes provide interesting, consistent, and reliable evidence concerning the structural connectivity underlying the alerting network. We still consider that further evidence is necessary to better understand the controversial relationship between attentional/vigilance processes and microstructural white matter connectivity though.
如今，关于注意网络系统（即警觉和警戒、定向和执行控制）的结构连接存在相当大的争议。本研究旨在通过克服先前研究中的一些关键限制，进一步检查和分离注意和警觉功能的白质连接。为此，我们对 30 名健康成年人的注意力相关白质束进行了虚拟的活体解剖。参与者完成了注意力网络测试的两次交互和警觉测试，这是一项适合同时评估相位警觉、定向、执行控制和警觉的执行成分（即检测罕见关键信号的能力）的任务。虽然我们发现相位警觉与右侧背外侧前额叶尾状核束和胼胝体体部之间存在一致的相关性，但定向、执行控制和执行警觉的白质连接的证据要么是微弱的，要么是不一致的，要么是无效的。然而，白质连接似乎支持最可靠的表现：注意力功能的整体反应时间与左侧扣带束显著相关，而执行警觉的整体反应时间与双侧上纵束 I 显著相关。本研究结果提供了关于警觉网络结构连接的有趣、一致和可靠的证据。尽管如此，我们仍然认为需要进一步的证据来更好地理解注意力/警觉过程和微观结构白质连接之间有争议的关系。
