Sustained attention is associated with right superior longitudinal fasciculus and superior parietal white matter microstructure in children Abstract: Sustained attention develops during childhood and has been linked to the right fronto-parietal cortices in functional imaging studies; however, less is known about its relation to white matter (WM) characteristics. Here we investigated whether the microstructure of the WM underlying and connecting the right fronto-parietal cortices was associated with sustained attention performance in a group of 76 typically developing children aged 7-13 years. Sustained attention was assessed using a rapid visual information processing paradigm. The two behavioral measures of interest were the sensitivity index d 0 and the coefficient of variation in reaction times (RT CV ). Diffusion-weighted imaging was performed. Mean fractional anisotropy (FA) was extracted from the WM underlying right dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC) and parietal cortex (PC), and the right superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), as well as equivalent anatomical regions-of-interest (ROIs) in the left hemisphere and mean global WM FA. When analyzed collectively, right hemisphere ROIs FA was significantly associated with d 0 independently of age. Follow-up analyses revealed that only FA of right SLF and the superior part of the right PC contributed significantly to this association. RT CV was significantly associated with right superior PC FA, but not with right SLF FA. Observed associations remained significant after controlling for FA of equivalent left hemisphere ROIs or global mean FA. In conclusion, better sustained attention performance was associated with higher FA of WM in regions connecting right frontal and parietal cortices. Further studies are needed to clarify to which extent these associations are driven by maturational processes, stable characteristics and/or experience. Hum Brain Mapp 00:000-000, 2012. V C 2012 Wiley-Periodicals, Inc.Key words: brain maturation; sustained attention; cognitive development; diffusion tensor imaging; fractional anisotropy r r y Brith Klarborg and Kathrine Skak Madsen have contributed equally to this work.

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Controlled study of ISA effects comparing speed attitudes between young volunteers and external controls, and the effect of different ISA treatments on the speeding of volunteersHarms, Lisbeth; Klarborg, Brith; Lahrmann, Harry; Agerholm, Niels; Jensen, Erik; Tradisauskas, Nerius General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.? Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. ? You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain ? You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at vbn@aub.aau.dk providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. ABSTRACTThe present study is a part of the ISA PAYD project being conducted in the County of North Jutland, Denmark. The first part of the study compared background data and attitudes between young ISA-volunteers and non-volunteers. Volunteers and nonvolunteers differed only with respect to their judgement of ISA effects. The second part of the study compared effects of ISA on speeding for ISA-volunteers exposed to different combinations of informative ISA and incentives e.g. speed dependent insurance discounts. Comparisons of amount speeding between treatment groups showed that ISA in combination with incentives and ISA alone reduced speeding, incentive without ISA had some effect on speeding whereas the control group, which neither had ISA or incentives continued to speed throughout an observation period of 18 weeks.