Title
Resting spontaneous activity in the default mode network predicts performance decline during prolonged attention workload.
Abstract
After continuous and prolonged cognitive workload, people typically show reduced behavioral performance and increased feelings of fatigue, which are known as “time-on-task (TOT) effects”. Although TOT effects are pervasive in modern life, their underlying neural mechanisms remain elusive. In this study, we induced TOT effects by administering a 20-min continuous psychomotor vigilance test (PVT) to a group of 16 healthy adults and used resting-state blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine spontaneous brain activity changes associated with fatigue and performance. Behaviorally, subjects displayed robust TOT effects, as reflected by increasingly slower reaction times as the test progressed and higher self-reported mental fatigue ratings after the 20-min PVT. Compared to pre-test measurements, subjects exhibited reduced amplitudes of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in the default mode network (DMN) and increased ALFF in the thalamus after the test. Subjects also exhibited reduced anti-correlations between the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and right middle prefrontal cortex after the test. Moreover, pre-test resting ALFF in the PCC and medial prefrontal cortex (MePFC) predicted subjects' subsequent performance decline; individuals with higher ALFF in these regions exhibited more stable reaction times throughout the 20-min PVT. These results support the important role of both task-positive and task-negative networks in mediating TOT effects and suggest that spontaneous activity measured by resting-state BOLD fMRI may be a marker of mental fatigue.
Year
DOI
Venue
2015
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.07.030
NeuroImage
Keywords
Field
DocType
Time-on-task (TOT) effects,Fatigue,Default mode network (DMN),Amplitudes of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF),Functional connectivity
Thalamus,Cortex (botany),Developmental psychology,Default mode network,Functional magnetic resonance imaging,Prefrontal cortex,Psychology,Brain activity and meditation,Vigilance (psychology),Posterior cingulate
Journal
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
120
1053-8119
6
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.54
9
8
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Danyang Gui160.54
Sihua Xu260.88
Senhua Zhu360.54
Zhuo Fang461.56
Andrea M. Spaeth560.88
Yuanyuan Xin660.54
Tingyong Feng791.74
Hengyi Rao8969.41