Sustaining Attention for a Prolonged Duration Affects Dynamic Organizations of Frequency-Specific Functional...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Computational Neuroscience

Background:

• Sustained attention relies on dynamic brain networks synchronized through oscillations.
• Prolonged task engagement leads to vigilance decrement, impacting sustained attention.
• The specific neural mechanisms affected by vigilance decrement remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the electrophysiological basis of vigilance decrement during sustained attention.
• To characterize phase-coupling networks and their modulation by vigilance.
• To identify frequency-specific dynamic functional connectivity (fdFC) alterations.

Main Methods:

• Utilized electroencephalography (EEG) data from an 80-minute sustained attention task.
• Applied weighted phase lag index (wPLI) for functional connectivity analysis.
• Employed tensor component analysis (TCA) on a fourth-order tensor (time, frequency, FC, blocks × subjects).

Main Results:

• Identified four key fdFC neuromarkers: alpha parieto-occipital, theta fronto-parieto-occipital, delta fronto-parieto-occipital, and beta sensorimotor networks.
• Vigilance decrement impaired all identified fdFCs.
• Rewards restored most fdFCs, with transient effects on the beta right sensorimotor network.

Conclusions:

• Vigilance decrement has dissociable effects on different stages of sustained attention.
• The tensor-based framework effectively reveals dynamic functional connectivity changes.
• Findings offer insights into neural mechanisms underlying attention and fatigue.