Kondo Hirohito M, Terashima Hiroki, Ezaki Takahiro, Kochiyama Takanori, Kihara Ken, Kawahara Jun I
School of Psychology, Chukyo University, Nagoya, Japan.
NTT Communication Science Laboratories, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Atsugi, Japan.
Front Neurosci. 2022 Mar 18;16:816735. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.816735. eCollection 2022.
Achievement of task performance is required to maintain a constant level of attention. Attentional level fluctuates over the course of daily activities. However, brain dynamics leading to attentional fluctuation are still unknown. We investigated the underlying mechanisms of sustained attention using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants were scanned with fMRI while performing an auditory, gradual-onset, continuous performance task (gradCPT). In this task, narrations gradually changed from one to the next. Participants pressed a button for frequent Go trials (i.e., male voices) as quickly as possible and withheld responses to infrequent No-go trials (i.e., female voices). Event-related analysis revealed that frontal and temporal areas, including the auditory cortex, were activated during successful and unsuccessful inhibition of predominant responses. Reaction-time (RT) variability throughout the auditory gradCPT was positively correlated with signal changes in regions of the dorsal attention network: superior frontal gyrus and superior parietal lobule. Energy landscape analysis showed that task-related activations could be clustered into different attractors: regions of the dorsal attention network and default mode network. The number of alternations between RT-stable and erratic periods increased with an increase in transitions between attractors in the brain. Therefore, we conclude that dynamic transitions between brain states are closely linked to auditory attentional fluctuations.
完成任务表现需要维持持续的注意力水平。在日常活动过程中，注意力水平会波动。然而，导致注意力波动的脑动力学机制仍不清楚。我们使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究了持续注意力的潜在机制。参与者在执行一项听觉、逐渐开始的连续执行任务（gradCPT）时接受fMRI扫描。在这个任务中，叙述会逐渐从一个切换到下一个。参与者尽可能快地按下按钮对频繁出现的“执行”试验（即男性声音）做出反应，并对不频繁出现的“不执行”试验（即女性声音）不做反应。事件相关分析显示，在成功和不成功抑制优势反应期间，包括听觉皮层在内的额叶和颞叶区域被激活。整个听觉gradCPT过程中的反应时间（RT）变异性与背侧注意力网络区域（额上回和顶上小叶）的信号变化呈正相关。能量景观分析表明，与任务相关的激活可以聚类为不同的吸引子：背侧注意力网络区域和默认模式网络。RT稳定期和不稳定期之间的交替次数随着大脑中吸引子之间转换的增加而增加。因此，我们得出结论，脑状态之间的动态转换与听觉注意力波动密切相关。
