Elucidating mechanisms underlying fluctuations of sustained attention and their influence on memory

摘要 持续注意力(SA)，即在较长时间内保持专注于一项任务的能力，是一种 直接影响其他认知功能的基本认知过程，如从演讲中学习或 从阅读中。SA的波动是常见的，但其原因似乎是异质性的，并且 它们如何影响正在进行的信息处理和随后的记忆还没有被很好地理解。 一些研究人员提出，SA的波动是随着任务的增加而增长的趋势 心不在焉的持续时间(注意力偏向内心的想法或分心)，原因是 执行控制程序。同样，执行控制的失败也倾向于通过以下方式吸引注意力 外部干扰物。这项建议的主要目标是调查关注方向(外部与 内部)和控制水平相互作用，以决定SA的波动，以及它们如何影响当前的学习。在……里面 目标1，申请者将调查两种类型的注意力疏忽(外部分心和走神)， 可能在SA期间发生，包括它们随时间的出现频率以及它们各自如何影响后续 记忆。申请人将实施一种新的范例，其中与任务相关的对象图像呈现在 在更大的分散注意力的脸部图像的顶部，以及思维探测器被用来评估个体的注意力状态 要么是在任务中，要么是外部分心，要么是走神，而瞳孔反应会被记录下来。主 假说是，随着时间的推移，外部分心和走神的速度会增加 对行政控制的影响越来越小。此外，申请者还将调查每个人的不同影响 后续记忆的注意力转移状态。这项研究将是第一次将内部和外部失误联系起来 在SA期间注意使用瞳孔测量测量的记忆性能。在目标2a和2b中，功能磁共振成像方法， 与扫描仪内的瞳孔测量记录一起，将被用来检查外部 在SA期间分心与走神，并揭示这些注意力通过不同的神经机制 状态会影响记忆。这一目标将包括fMRI注意力状态分类器分析的新应用 数据以及这些状态与行为和斜视测量以及创新动力的关系 功能连接方法，以调查网络内部和网络之间的相互作用，从而产生SA 波动及其对记忆的影响。这项研究将对背部注意的作用提供更深入的见解 SA中的网络、默认模式网络和额顶控制网络，以及助记成本 外部分心与走神的对比，以加深对神经机制的理解 哪个SA会影响内存。这个项目将大大增加我们对不同方式的理解 其中SA可以被破坏，SA中的失误对后续记忆具有独特的影响。因此， 这些研究的结果可能反过来导致在两个正常人群中识别SA缺陷的改进 以及各种临床疾病，并就如何解决这些问题提出了可能的方法。

Abstract Sustained attention (SA), the ability to maintain focus on a task over prolonged periods of time, is a fundamental cognitive process that directly impacts other cognitive functions, such as learning from a lecture or from reading. Fluctuations of SA are commonly observed, but their causes seem to be heterogenous, and the ways in which they influence ongoing information processing and subsequent memory are not well understood. Some researchers have proposed that SA fluctuations result from a growing tendency with increasing task duration towards mind-wandering (attention drifting towards internal thoughts or distractors), due to failure of executive control processes. Similarly, failures of executive control also tend to allow the capture of attention by external distractors. The main goal of this proposal is to investigate how the direction of attention (external vs. internal) and the level of control interact to determine fluctuations of SA, and how they affect current learning. In Aim 1, the applicant will investigate two types of attention lapses (externally distracted and mind-wandering) that can occur during SA, including the rates at which they occur over time and how they each influence subsequent memory. The applicant will implement a novel paradigm in which task-relevant object images are presented on top of much larger distracting face images, and thought probes are used to assess the individuals’ attention state as either on-task, externally distracted, or mind-wandering, while pupillary responses are recorded. The main hypothesis is that rates of external distraction and mind-wandering will increase over time as the maintenance of executive control diminishes. In addition, the applicant will investigate the distinct influence of each individual attention-lapse state on subsequent memory. This study will be the first to relate internal vs external lapses of attention during SA to memory performance using pupillometry measures. In Aims 2a and 2b, fMRI methodology, along with in-scanner pupillometry recordings, will be used to examine the neural underpinnings of external distraction vs mind-wandering during SA and to uncover the distinct neural mechanisms by which these attention states influence memory. This Aim will include novel application of attention-state classifier analyses of the fMRI data and how these states relate to the behavior and pupillometry measures, as well as innovative dynamic functional connectivity approaches to investigate the interplay within and between networks that gives rise to SA fluctuations and their effects on memory. This study will offer insights into the roles of the dorsal attention network, the default-mode network, and the fronto-parietal control network in SA, as well as the mnemonic costs of external distraction vs mind-wandering, to gain a deeper understanding of the neural mechanisms through which SA impacts memory. This project will substantially increase our understanding of the different ways in which SA can be disrupted and the unique influences that lapses in SA have on subsequent memory. Thus, the results of these studies may in turn lead to improvement in identifying SA deficits in both the normal population and in various clinical disorders, and suggest possible approaches as to how they may be addressed.