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Hemmerich K, Lupiáñez J, Martín-Arévalo E. HD-tDCS mitigates the executive vigilance decrement only under high cognitive demands. Sci Rep 2024; 14:7865. [PMID: 38570619 PMCID: PMC10991279 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-57917-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Maintaining vigilance is essential for many everyday tasks, but over time, our ability to sustain it inevitably decreases, potentially entailing severe consequences. High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) has proven to be useful for studying and improving vigilance. This study explores if/how cognitive load affects the mitigatory effects of HD-tDCS on the vigilance decrement. Participants (N = 120) completed a modified ANTI-Vea task (single or dual load) while receiving either sham or anodal HD-tDCS over the right posterior parietal cortex (rPPC). This data was compared with data from prior studies (N = 120), where participants completed the standard ANTI-Vea task (triple load task), combined with the same HD-tDCS protocol. Against our hypotheses, both the single and dual load conditions showed a significant executive vigilance (EV) decrement, which was not affected by the application of rPPC HD-tDCS. On the contrary, the most cognitively demanding task (triple task) showed the greatest EV decrement; importantly, it was also with the triple task that a significant mitigatory effect of the HD-tDCS intervention was observed. The present study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the specific effects of HD-tDCS on the vigilance decrement considering cognitive demands. This can ultimately contribute to reconciling heterogeneous effects observed in past research and fine-tuning its future clinical application.
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Affiliation(s)
- Klara Hemmerich
- Department of Experimental Psychology, and Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Campus de Cartuja, s/n, 18071, Granada, Spain.
| | - Juan Lupiáñez
- Department of Experimental Psychology, and Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Campus de Cartuja, s/n, 18071, Granada, Spain
| | - Elisa Martín-Arévalo
- Department of Experimental Psychology, and Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Campus de Cartuja, s/n, 18071, Granada, Spain.
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Nan W, Yang W, Gong A, Kadosh RC, Ros T, Fu Y, Wan F. Successful learning of alpha up-regulation through neurofeedback training modulates sustained attention. Neuropsychologia 2024; 195:108804. [PMID: 38242318 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108804] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2023] [Revised: 12/29/2023] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 01/21/2024]
Abstract
As a fundamental attention function, sustained attention plays a critical role in general cognitive abilities and is closely linked to EEG alpha oscillations. Neurofeedback training (NFT) of alpha activity on different aspects of attention has been studied previously. However, it remains unclear how NFT with up- or down-regulation directions modulates sustained attention. Here we employed a counterbalanced single-blind sham-controlled crossover design, in which healthy young adults underwent one NFT session of alpha up-regulation, one NFT session of alpha down-regulation, and one sham-control NFT session over the posterior area. The session order was counterbalanced with a 7-day interval between each session. After each NFT session, the participants completed a visual continuous temporal expectancy task (vCTET) to assess their sustained attention performance. The results showed that compared to sham-control NFT, successful learning of alpha up-regulation resulted in increased reaction time at the beginning of the attention task but a slower increase over vCTET blocks. On the other hand, successful learning of alpha down-regulation had no impact on attention performance compared to sham-control NFT. These findings suggest that successful learning of alpha up-regulation through NFT could impair initial attention performance but slow down visual attention deterioration over time, i.e., alpha enhancement by NFT stabilizing visual attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenya Nan
- School of Psychology, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.
| | - Wenjie Yang
- School of Psychology, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Anmin Gong
- School of Information Engineering, Engineering University of People's Armed Police, Xi'an, China; School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | | | - Tomas Ros
- Departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, University of Geneva, Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Yunfa Fu
- School of Automation and Information Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China.
| | - Feng Wan
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Macau, China
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Hemmerich K, Lupiáñez J, Luna FG, Martín-Arévalo E. The mitigation of the executive vigilance decrement via HD-tDCS over the right posterior parietal cortex and its association with neural oscillations. Cereb Cortex 2023:6988102. [PMID: 36646467 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2022] [Revised: 12/22/2022] [Accepted: 12/23/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Vigilance-maintaining a prolonged state of preparation to detect and respond to specific yet unpredictable environmental changes-usually decreases across prolonged tasks, causing potentially severe real-life consequences, which could be mitigated through transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). The present study aimed at replicating previous mitigatory effects observed with anodal high-definition tDCS (HD-tDCS) over the right posterior parietal cortex (rPPC) while extending the analyses on electrophysiological measures associated with vigilance. In sum, 60 participants completed the ANTI-Vea task while receiving anodal (1.5 mA, n = 30) or sham (0 mA, n = 30) HD-tDCS over the rPPC for ~ 28 min. EEG recordings were completed before and after stimulation. Anodal HD-tDCS specifically mitigated executive vigilance (EV) and reduced the alpha power increment across time-on-task while increasing the gamma power increment. To further account for the observed behavioral and physiological outcomes, a new index of Alphaparietal/Gammafrontal is proposed. Interestingly, the increment of this Alphaparietal/Gammafrontal Index with time-on-task is associated with a steeper EV decrement in the sham group, which was mitigated by anodal HD-tDCS. We highlight the relevance of replicating mitigatory effects of tDCS and the need to integrate conventional and novel physiological measures to account for how anodal HD-tDCS can be used to modulate cognitive performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Klara Hemmerich
- Department of Experimental Psychology, and Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Granada 18071, Spain
| | - Juan Lupiáñez
- Department of Experimental Psychology, and Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Granada 18071, Spain
| | - Fernando G Luna
- Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas (IIPsi, CONICET-UNC), Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba 5010, Argentina
| | - Elisa Martín-Arévalo
- Department of Experimental Psychology, and Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Granada 18071, Spain
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Darnai G, Matuz A, Alhour HA, Perlaki G, Orsi G, Arató Á, Szente A, Áfra E, Nagy SA, Janszky J, Csathó Á. The neural correlates of mental fatigue and reward processing: A task-based fMRI study. Neuroimage 2023; 265:119812. [PMID: 36526104 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119812] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Revised: 11/07/2022] [Accepted: 12/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Increasing time spent on the task (i.e., the time-on-task (ToT) effect) often results in mental fatigue. Typical effects of ToT are decreasing levels of task-related motivation and the deterioration of cognitive performance. However, a massive body of research indicates that the detrimental effects can be reversed by extrinsic motivators, for example, providing rewards to fatigued participants. Although several attempts have been made to identify brain areas involved in mental fatigue and related reward processing, the neural correlates are still less understood. In this study, we used the psychomotor vigilance task to induce mental fatigue and blood oxygen-level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural correlates of the ToT effect and the reward effect (i.e., providing extra monetary reward after fatigue induction) in a healthy young sample. Our results were interpreted in a recently proposed neurocognitive framework. The activation of the right middle frontal gyrus, right insula and right anterior cingulate gyrus decreased as fatigue emerged and the cognitive performance dropped. However, after providing an extra reward, the cognitive performance, as well as activation of these areas, increased. Moreover, the activation levels of all of the mentioned areas were negatively associated with reaction times. Our results confirm that the middle frontal gyrus, insula and anterior cingulate cortex play crucial roles in cost-benefit evaluations, a potential background mechanism underlying fatigue, as suggested by the neurocognitive framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gergely Darnai
- Department of Behavioural Sciences, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary; Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary; ELKH-PTE Clinical Neuroscience MR Research Group, Pécs, Hungary
| | - András Matuz
- Department of Behavioural Sciences, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | | | - Gábor Perlaki
- Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary; ELKH-PTE Clinical Neuroscience MR Research Group, Pécs, Hungary; Pécs Diagnostic Centre, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Gergely Orsi
- ELKH-PTE Clinical Neuroscience MR Research Group, Pécs, Hungary; Pécs Diagnostic Centre, Pécs, Hungary; Department of Neurosurgery, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Ákos Arató
- Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Anna Szente
- Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Eszter Áfra
- Department of Behavioural Sciences, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Szilvia Anett Nagy
- Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary; ELKH-PTE Clinical Neuroscience MR Research Group, Pécs, Hungary; Pécs Diagnostic Centre, Pécs, Hungary; Structural Neurobiology Research Group, Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | - József Janszky
- Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary; ELKH-PTE Clinical Neuroscience MR Research Group, Pécs, Hungary.
| | - Árpád Csathó
- Department of Behavioural Sciences, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
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