Xu Kaijun, Liu Rui, Chen Xipeng, Chen Xi, Yang Yong, Wang Quanchuan, Yang Jiazhong
School of Flight Technology, Civil Aviation Flight University of China, Guanghan, China.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2023 Mar 15;17:796526. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.796526. eCollection 2023.
Research on the differences in physiological and psychological mechanisms of practitioners in different occupations is a current hot spot, such as pilots. This study explores the frequency-dependent changes of pilots' low-frequency amplitudes in the classical frequency band and sub-frequency band between pilots and general occupations. The goal of the current work is to provide objective brain images for the selection and evaluation of outstanding pilots.
Twenty-six pilots and 23 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls were included in this study. Then the mean low-frequency amplitude (mALFF) of the classical frequency band and sub-frequency band was calculated. The two-sample -test was performed on SPM12 to analyze the differences between the flight group and control group in the classic frequency band. To explore the main effects and the inter-band effects of the mean low-frequency amplitude (mALFF), the mixed design analysis of variance was applied in the sub-frequency bands.
Compared with the control group, left cuneiform lobe and the right cerebellum six area of pilots show significant difference in the classic frequency band. And the main effect results in the sub-frequency bands show that the area with higher mALFF in the flight group is located on the left middle occipital gyrus, the left cuneiform lobe, the right superior occipital gyrus, the right superior gyrus, and the left lateral central lobule. However, the area where the value of mALFF decreased is mainly located on the left rectangular cleft with surrounding cortex and the right dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus. Besides, compared with the slow-4 frequency band, the mALFF of the left middle orbital middle frontal gyrus of the slow-5 frequency band was increased, while the mALFF value of the left putamen, left fusiform gyrus, and right thalamus was decreased. The sensitivity of the slow-5 frequency band and the slow-4 frequency band to the pilots' different brain areas was also different. Also, the different brain areas in the classic frequency band and the sub-frequency band were significantly correlated with pilots' flight hours.
Our findings showed that the left cuneiform brain area and the right cerebellum of pilots changed significantly during resting state. And there was a positive correlation between the mALFF value of those brain area and flight hours. The comparative analysis of sub-frequency bands found that the slow-5 band could elucidate a wider range of different brain regions, providing new ideas for exploring the brain mechanisms of pilots.
研究不同职业从业者生理和心理机制的差异是当前的一个热点，比如飞行员。本研究探讨飞行员与一般职业人群在经典频段和子频段低频振幅的频率依赖性变化。当前工作的目标是为优秀飞行员的选拔和评估提供客观的脑影像。
本研究纳入了26名飞行员和23名年龄、性别和教育程度相匹配的健康对照者。然后计算经典频段和子频段的平均低频振幅（mALFF）。在SPM12上进行两样本t检验，以分析飞行组和对照组在经典频段的差异。为探究平均低频振幅（mALFF）的主效应和频段间效应，在子频段应用混合设计方差分析。
与对照组相比，飞行员的左侧楔叶和右侧小脑6区在经典频段显示出显著差异。子频段的主效应结果表明，飞行组中mALFF较高的区域位于左侧枕中回、左侧楔叶、右侧枕上回、右侧额上回和左侧中央旁小叶。然而，mALFF值降低的区域主要位于左侧顶枕裂及其周围皮质和右侧背外侧额上回。此外，与慢4频段相比，慢5频段左侧眶额中回的mALFF增加，而左侧壳核、左侧梭状回和右侧丘脑的mALFF值降低。慢5频段和慢4频段对飞行员不同脑区的敏感性也不同。而且，经典频段和子频段的不同脑区与飞行员的飞行小时数显著相关。
我们的研究结果表明，飞行员的左侧楔叶脑区和右侧小脑在静息状态下发生了显著变化。这些脑区的mALFF值与飞行小时数呈正相关。子频段的比较分析发现，慢5频段能阐明更广泛的不同脑区，为探索飞行员的脑机制提供了新思路。
