In the Zone or Zoning Out? Tracking Behavioral and Neural Fluctuations During Sustained Attention
In the Zone or Zoning Out? Tracking Behavioral and Neural Fluctuations During Sustained Attention
复制标题
DOI：
10.1093/cercor/bhs261
复制
发表时间：
2013-11-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
DeGutis, Joseph
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Esterman, Michael;Noonan, Sarah K.;DeGutis, Joseph
尽管人们越来越认识到在持续表现期间注意力会随时波动，但流行的分析策略包括对多个试验或时间点的数据进行平均，将这些波动视为噪音。在这里，我们使用替代方法，阐明了持续注意力期间持续的大脑活动与表现波动之间的关系。我们引入了一项新颖的任务（逐渐开始的连续表现任务），以及探索反应时间（RT）变异性、注意力缺失和内在大脑活动之间关系的创新分析程序。我们的结果强调了两种注意力状态：稳定、不易出错的状态（区域内），其特征是默认模式网络（DMN）活动较高，但在此期间，如果DMN活动超过中间水平，受试者就有犯错的风险；以及更费力的处理模式（区域外），这对于持续表现而言不太理想，并且依赖于背侧注意力网络（DAN）区域的活动。这些发现激发了对 DMN 和 DAN 功能的新看法，能够整合关于它们在目标导向行为中的作用的看似不同的报告。此外，它们有可能调和持续注意力的相互冲突的理论，并且代表了将大脑内在活动与行为现象联系起来的重要一步。
Despite growing recognition that attention fluctuates from moment-to-moment during sustained performance, prevailing analysis strategies involve averaging data across multiple trials or time points, treating these fluctuations as noise. Here, using alternative approaches, we clarify the relationship between ongoing brain activity and performance fluctuations during sustained attention. We introduce a novel task (the gradual onset continuous performance task), along with innovative analysis procedures that probe the relationships between reaction time (RT) variability, attention lapses, and intrinsic brain activity. Our results highlight 2 attentional statesua stable, less error-prone state (in the zone), characterized by higher default mode network (DMN) activity but during which subjects are at risk of erring if DMN activity rises beyond intermediate levels, and a more effortful mode of processing (out of the zone), that is less optimal for sustained performance and relies on activity in dorsal attention network (DAN) regions. These findings motivate a new view of DMN and DAN functioning capable of integrating seemingly disparate reports of their role in goal-directed behavior. Further, they hold potential to reconcile conflicting theories of sustained attention, and represent an important step forward in linking intrinsic brain activity to behavioral phenomena.