The Low-Frequency Fluctuation of Trial-by-Trial Frontal Theta Activity and Its Correlation With Reaction-Time Variability in Sustained Attention

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Yao-Yao Wang¹  Li Sun⁴  Yi-Wei Liu¹  Jia-Hui Pan¹  Yu-Ming Zheng¹  Yu-Feng Wang⁴  Yu-Feng Zang¹  Hang Zhang¹ 

[1] Institute of Psychological Sciences, College of Education, Hangzhou Normal University;Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University;Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments;Institute of Mental Health, The Sixth Hospital, Peking University

关键词: sustained attention;    EEG;    frontal theta activity;    reaction-time variability;    trial-by-trial fluctuation;    frequency-dependent fluctuation;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01555

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Reaction-time variability is a critical index of sustained attention. However, researchers still lack effective measures to establish the association between neurophysiological activity and this behavioral variability. Here, the present study recorded reaction time (RT) and cortical electroencephalogram (EEG) in healthy subjects when they continuously performed an alternative responding task. The frontal theta activity and reaction-time variability were examined trial by trial using the measures of standard deviation (SD) in the time domain and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in the frequency domain. Our results showed that the SD of reaction-time variability did not have any correlation with the SD of trial-by-trial frontal theta activity, and the ALFF of reaction-time variability has a significant correlation with the ALFF of trial-by-trial frontal theta activity in 0.01–0.027 Hz. These results suggested the methodological significance of ALFF in establishing the association between neurophysiological activity and reaction-time variability. Furthermore, these findings also support the low-frequency fluctuation as a potential feature of sustained attention.

【 授权许可】

CC BY