Functional Activation during the Rapid Visual Information Processing Task in a Middle Aged Cohort: An fMRI Study

Abstract

The Rapid Visual Information Processing (RVIP) task, a serial discrimination task where task performance believed to reflect sustained attention capabilities, is widely used in behavioural research and increasingly in neuroimaging studies. To date, functional neuroimaging research into the RVIP has been undertaken using block analyses, reflecting the sustained processing involved in the task, but not necessarily the transient processes associated with individual trial performance. Furthermore, this research has been limited to young cohorts. This study assessed the behavioural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) outcomes of the RVIP task using both block and event-related analyses in a healthy middle aged cohort (mean age = 53.56 years, n = 16). The results show that the version of the RVIP used here is sensitive to changes in attentional demand processes with participants achieving a 43% accuracy hit rate in the experimental task compared with 96% accuracy in the control task. As shown by previous research, the block analysis revealed an increase in activation in a network of frontal, parietal, occipital and cerebellar regions. The event related analysis showed a similar network of activation, seemingly omitting regions involved in the processing of the task (as shown in the block analysis), such as occipital areas and the thalamus, providing an indication of a network of regions involved in correct trial performance. Frontal (superior and inferior frontal gryi), parietal (precuenus, inferior parietal lobe) and cerebellar regions were shown to be active in both the block and event-related analyses, suggesting their importance in sustained attention/vigilance. These networks and the differences between them are discussed in detail, as well as implications for future research in middle aged cohorts.

Functional Brain Activity Changes after 4 Weeks Supplementation with a Multi-Vitamin/Mineral Combination: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial Exploring Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials during Working Memory

“…Deary et al, 2004; Waiter et al, 2008), and as such was not pursued further for effects of treatment. The RVIP task showed results consistent with previous functional imaging studies of this task (Coull et al, 1996; Lawrence et al, 2003; Neale et al, 2015) and the ROIs defined from the independent sample, including large regions of bilateral parietal and frontal cortex. The outcomes of these analyses are further detailed in Supplementary Data Section 2 (see Supplementary Table 2 and Supplementary Figure 2).…”

“…The RVIP task implemented was identical to that described in Neale et al (2015). Briefly, single digits (white stimuli on a black background) were presented at a rate of 100 per minute, with the active task variant requiring participants to respond upon presentation of three consecutive odd or even digits, and a control task variant requiring detection of a single target digit not presented during the active variant (‘0’).…”

Neurocognitive performance in insomnia disorder: The impact of hyperarousal and short sleep duration

“…The lack of differences in the measures of sustained attention and vigilance (i.e. the RVP test) may be related to the presence of compensatory pathways/networks involving frontal, parietal and cerebellar regions that may ward off some detrimental effects of insomnia and hyperarousal (Neale, Johnston, Hughes, & Scholey, ). Also, given the high number of sustained attentional errors across all groups, this test may have been inherently difficult and not suitable to detect subtle differences.…”

Central Thalamic Deep-Brain Stimulation Alters Striatal-Thalamic Connectivity in Cognitive Neural Behavior

“…Less rats' exploratory behavior in the late phase could hypothetically reflect any or all of the several internal factors, including most obviously lack of thirst (others include frustration and fatigue). Therefore, the slight decreases in alpha- and beta- band coherences might be due to less reward-motivated behavior toward the tasks in the rats (Sturman and Moghaddam, 2011 ; Neale et al, 2015 ). Furthermore, many studies have reported striatal LFPs modulation in the theta band during exploratory behavior (Tort et al, 2008 ; Lepski et al, 2012 ).…”