Increased acoustic noise (AN) during working memory (WM) leads to increased brain activation in healthy individuals, and may have greater impact in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients. Compared to controls, HIV subjects showed reduced AN-activation and lower neuronal marker Nacetylaspartate in prefrontal and parietal cortices. Competing use of the WM network between AN and cognitive load showed lower dynamic range of the hemodynamic responses in prefrontal and parietal cortices in HIV patients. These findings suggest reduced reserve capacity of the WM network in HIV patients and additional stress (e.g. AN) might exhaust the impaired network for more demanding tasks.
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