1
|
Zhou ZW, Lan XQ, Fang YT, Gong Y, Zang YF, Luo H, Zhang H. The Inter-Regional Connectivity Within the Default Mode Network During the Attentional Processes of Internal Focus and External Focus: An fMRI Study of Continuous Finger Force Feedback. Front Psychol 2019; 10:2198. [PMID: 31616356 PMCID: PMC6775218 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2019] [Accepted: 09/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Sustained attention involves two distinct processes, i.e., external focus and internal focus. Some recent neuroimaging studies employed the instruction of experimenters or the self-report from participants to generate the two attentional processes, and observed that the default mode network (DMN) was also responding to the external focus. These observations challenged the general view that the DMN accounts for the internally directed cognition, e.g., unfocused mind wandering, task independent-thoughts and internally focused events. Notably, the instruction or self-report may not effectively ensure the participants engage in the external focus/internal focus, and thus, the functional significance of the DMN for the externally focused process remains to be verified. In the present study, a new task paradigm, i.e., real/sham continuous feedback of finger force, was employed to generate the attentional process of external focus/internal focus, and the functional connectivity among the node regions of the DMN was further investigated in the two processes respectively. We found that two regions of the DMN, posterior cingulate cortex and left inferior parietal cortex/angular gyrus showed stronger inter-regional connectivity in the externally focused process than it in the internally focused process. Intriguingly, this functional connectivity was closely related to the behavioral performance in the process of external focus. These findings implicated that the functional significance of the DMN in sustained attention was more than responding to the internally directed cognition, and the task paradigm of continuous finger force feedback could benefit for the future studies on the externally focused/internally focused process of sustained attention.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhi-Wei Zhou
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, College of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders and the Affiliated Hospital, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xia-Qing Lan
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, College of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders and the Affiliated Hospital, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yan-Tong Fang
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders and the Affiliated Hospital, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yun Gong
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders and the Affiliated Hospital, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yu-Feng Zang
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, College of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders and the Affiliated Hospital, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hong Luo
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders and the Affiliated Hospital, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hang Zhang
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, College of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders and the Affiliated Hospital, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Korostil M, Remington G, McIntosh AR. Practice and Learning: Spatiotemporal Differences in Thalamo-Cortical-Cerebellar Networks Engagement across Learning Phases in Schizophrenia. Front Psychiatry 2017; 7:212. [PMID: 28167919 PMCID: PMC5256117 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2016] [Accepted: 12/22/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Understanding how practice mediates the transition of brain-behavior networks between early and later stages of learning is constrained by the common approach to analysis of fMRI data. Prior imaging studies have mostly relied on a single scan, and parametric, task-related analyses. Our experiment incorporates a multisession fMRI lexicon-learning experiment with multivariate, whole-brain analysis to further knowledge of the distributed networks supporting practice-related learning in schizophrenia (SZ). METHODS Participants with SZ were compared with healthy control (HC) participants as they learned a novel lexicon during two fMRI scans over a several day period. All participants were trained to equal task proficiency prior to scanning. Behavioral-Partial Least Squares, a multivariate analytic approach, was used to analyze the imaging data. Permutation testing was used to determine statistical significance and bootstrap resampling to determine the reliability of the findings. RESULTS With practice, HC participants transitioned to a brain-accuracy network incorporating dorsostriatal regions in late-learning stages. The SZ participants did not transition to this pattern despite comparable behavioral results. Instead, successful learners with SZ were differentiated primarily on the basis of greater engagement of perceptual and perceptual-integration brain regions. CONCLUSION There is a different spatiotemporal unfolding of brain-learning relationships in SZ. In SZ, given the same amount of practice, the movement from networks suggestive of effortful learning toward subcortically driven procedural one differs from HC participants. Learning performance in SZ is driven by varying levels of engagement in perceptual regions, which suggests perception itself is impaired and may impact downstream, "higher level" cognition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Michele Korostil
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Rotman Research Institute of Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto, ON, Canada
- University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Gary Remington
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Anthony Randal McIntosh
- Rotman Research Institute of Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto, ON, Canada
- University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| |
Collapse
|