Title

Cerebral lateralization of vigilance: A function of task difficulty

Authors

Authors

W. S. Helton; J. S. Warm; L. D. Tripp; G. Matthews; R. Parasuraman;P. A. Hancock

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

Abbreviated Journal Title

Neuropsychologia

Keywords

Laterality; Near-infrared spectroscopy; Sustained attention; Vigilance; NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY; CONTINUOUS AUDITORY VIGILANCE; POSITRON-EMISSION-TOMOGRAPHY; SUSTAINED ATTENTION; INTERHEMISPHERIC; INTERACTION; BLOOD-FLOW; SENSITIVITY DECREMENT; SELECTIVE ATTENTION; COGNITIVE TASKS; SIGNAL SALIENCE; Behavioral Sciences; Neurosciences; Psychology, Experimental

Abstract

Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) measures of cerebral oxygenation levels were collected from participants performing difficult and easy versions of a 12 min vigilance task and for controls who merely watched the displays without a work imperative. For the active participants, the fNIRS measurements in both vigilance tasks showed higher levels of cerebral activity than was present in the case of the no-work controls. In the easier task, greater activation was found in the right than in the left cerebral hemisphere, matching previous results indicating right hemisphere dominance for vigilance. However, for the more difficult task, this laterality difference was not found, instead activation was bilateral. Unilateral hemispheric activation in vigilance may be a result of employing relatively easy/simple tasks, not vigilance per se. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Journal Title

Neuropsychologia

Volume

48

Issue/Number

6

Publication Date

1-1-2010

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

1683

Last Page

1688

WOS Identifier

WOS:000278261900017

ISSN

0028-3932

Share

COinS