Drottar Marie, Manley Claire E, Nadvar Negin, Cabral Howard J, Bex Peter J, Merabet Lotfi B, Bauer Corinna M
Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Vision Science, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 125 Nashua Street, Boston, MA 02114, United States.
Laboratory of Visual Neuroplasticity, Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, 20 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114, United States.
Cereb Cortex. 2025 Jul 1;35(7). doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhaf173.
Individuals with cerebral visual impairment (CVI) often demonstrate difficulties with visual selective attention; however, the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we investigated whether structural and functional connectivity between and within the attention networks, thalamus, and early visual areas is differentially associated with performance on a conjunction search task in participants with CVI as compared to controls. Data from 26 participants was collected and analyzed (10 CVI, four female, 17.4 years, 5.38 s.d., 16 control, 10 female, 22.25 years, 4.25 s.d.). White matter tracts associated with the dorsal and ventral attention networks as well as structural and functional connectivity matrices of the dorsal and ventral attention networks were generated for each participant. Group differences in conjunction search outcomes, tract volume, and network connectivity strength were evaluated. General linear models were used to investigate the relationship between neuroimaging predictor variables and each of the four conjunction search primary outcomes. All analyses were adjusted for age and verbal cognition. In the CVI group impaired visual search was associated with weaker structural and stronger functional connectivity, while in the control group the opposite effect was observed. Together, these results suggest that functional over-recruitment may be a maladaptive compensatory mechanism.
患有脑性视觉障碍(CVI)的个体常常在视觉选择性注意方面表现出困难;然而,其潜在的神经机制仍不清楚。在本研究中,我们调查了与对照组相比,CVI参与者的注意网络、丘脑和早期视觉区域之间及内部的结构和功能连接是否与联合搜索任务的表现存在差异关联。收集并分析了26名参与者的数据(10名CVI患者,4名女性,年龄17.4岁,标准差5.38;16名对照组,10名女性,年龄22.25岁,标准差4.25)。为每位参与者生成了与背侧和腹侧注意网络相关的白质束以及背侧和腹侧注意网络的结构和功能连接矩阵。评估了联合搜索结果、束体积和网络连接强度的组间差异。使用一般线性模型研究神经影像预测变量与四个联合搜索主要结果中的每一个之间的关系。所有分析均针对年龄和言语认知进行了调整。在CVI组中,视觉搜索受损与较弱的结构连接和较强的功能连接相关,而在对照组中观察到相反的效应。总之,这些结果表明功能过度招募可能是一种适应不良的代偿机制。