title: Hemodynamic monitoring of middle cerebral arteries during cognitive tasks performance.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to obtain temporal pattern and hemispheric dominance of blood flow velocity (BFV) changes and to assess suitability of different cognitive tasks for monitoring of BFV changes in the middle cerebral arteries (MCA).
  
  
  METHODS
  BFV were recorded simultaneously in MCA during performance of phonemic verbal fluency test (pVFT), Trail Making Tests A and B (TMTA and TMTB) and Stroop tests in 14 healthy, right-handed volunteers aged 20-26 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A significant increase of BFV in both MCA was obtained during performance of all cognitive tasks. Statistically significant lateralization was found during performance of Stroop test with incongruent stimuli, while TMTB was found to have the best activation potential for MCA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings specify TMTB as the most suitable cognitive test for monitoring of BFV in MCA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Centre, Zagreb, Croatia; School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boban
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Črnac
authors.forename: Anamari
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Junaković
authors.forename: Branko
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Malojčić
mesh_terms: D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020768:Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Stroop; cognitive tasks; middle cerebral artery; trail making; transcranial Doppler