Structural and functional attention network connectivity in relation to visual selective attention dysfunction in...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Ophthalmology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) often involves difficulties with visual selective attention.
• The neural underpinnings of these attentional deficits in CVI are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between structural and functional brain connectivity and visual search performance in individuals with CVI compared to controls.
• To explore the roles of attention networks, thalamus, and early visual areas in CVI-related visual attention deficits.

Main Methods:

• Neuroimaging (structural and functional connectivity) and behavioral data were collected from 26 participants (10 CVI, 16 controls).
• White matter tracts and connectivity matrices for dorsal and ventral attention networks were generated.
• General linear models analyzed the association between neuroimaging variables and conjunction search task performance, controlling for age and verbal cognition.

Main Results:

• In the CVI group, impaired visual search correlated with weaker structural and stronger functional connectivity.
• In the control group, the opposite pattern was observed: better visual search was associated with stronger structural and weaker functional connectivity.
• These findings highlight group differences in the relationship between connectivity and visual search.

Conclusions:

• Altered brain connectivity patterns are associated with visual attention deficits in CVI.
• Stronger functional connectivity in CVI may represent a maladaptive compensatory mechanism for impaired visual processing.