A Dynamic Test of Attentional Multiplexing

描述(申请人提供)：在任务或刺激之间分配有限的精神资源，并有效地在工作记忆的多种表征之间转移注意力的“内部聚光灯”的能力，对于在要求苛刻和复杂的世界中的适应功能至关重要。人类大脑中与意志、认知控制和工作记忆有关的前额叶区域被认为是注意力多路转换的关键，许多与额叶病理相关的神经和神经精神疾病经常伴随着它的损害。从传统的纸和铅笔神经心理学或心理测量学技术衍生出来的“额叶执行系统”目前的静态测试没有测试注意力多路传输的快速动态，不是为重复给药而设计的，也不容易适应同时获得大脑功能的生理测量。该项目旨在开发一种专门的、动态的、计算机化的压力测试，以克服这些限制。作为一种基础研究工具，注意多路测试(AMT)可以作为一种标准化的激活程序，用于神经成像研究，旨在阐明执行注意系统的神经基础。作为一项临床测试，AMT既可以帮助评估执行功能异常的患者，也可以作为改善认知障碍的治疗努力的结果衡量标准。第一阶段的工作将利用我们在强调执行功能的任务中测量大脑功能和行为的经验，并建立在该任务的早期原型的基础上，该任务已在健康的年轻人身上进行了测试。在第一阶段，AMT将被改进以用于整个生命周期，重新设计以允许同时收集神经生理学数据，并在一项小型实验中进行初步评估，该实验将测试其稳定性、可靠性、对额叶功能障碍的敏感性以及神经相关性。在第二阶段，更大的研究将评估其结构和判别效度，并进一步表征其表现的神经生理学和神经解剖学相关性。然后将其提供给合作实验室进行独立评估。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ability to distribute limited mental resources among tasks or stimuli and to efficiently shift the "internal spotlight" of attention among multiple representations in working memory is critical to adaptive functioning in a demanding and complicated world. The prefrontal regions of the human brain that have been implicated in volition, cognitive control, and working memory are thought to be critical to attentional multiplexing, and many neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions that are associated with frontal pathology are often accompanied by impairments in it. Current static tests of the "frontal executive system" derived from traditional paper and pencil neuropsychological or psychometric techniques do not test the rapid dynamics of attentional multiplexing, are not designed for repeated administration, and are not easily adapted for concurrent acquisition of physiological measurements of brain function. This project aims to develop a specialized, dynamic, computerized stress test that will overcome these limitations. As a basic research tool the Attentional Multiplexing Test (AMT) could serve as a standardized activation procedure for neuroimaging studies aimed at clarifying the neural basis of the executive attention system. As a clinical test the AMT could both aid in the assessment of patients with executive function abnormalities, and serve as an outcome measure in treatment efforts to ameliorate their cognitive impairments. The Phase I effort will leverage our experience with measuring brain function and behavior during tasks that stress executive functions, and builds on an early prototype of the task that has been tested in healthy young adults. In Phase I the AMT will be refined for use across the lifespan, re-engineered to permit simultaneous neurophysiological data collection, and initially evaluated in a small experiment that will test its stability, reliability, sensitivity to frontal lobe dysfunction, and neural correlates. In Phase II larger studies would evaluate its construct and discriminant validity, and further characterize the neurophysiological and neuroanatomical correlates of its performance. It would then be provided to collaborating laboratories for independent evaluation.