title: Decoding vigilance with NIRS.
abstract: Sustained, long-term cognitive workload is associated with variations and decrements in performance. Such fluctuations in vigilance can be a risk factor especially during dangerous attention demanding activities. Functional MRI studies have shown that attentional performance is correlated with BOLD-signals, especially in parietal and prefrontal cortical regions. An interesting question is whether these BOLD-signals could be measured in real-world scenarios, say to warn in a dangerous workplace whenever a subjects' vigilance is low. Because fMRI lacks the mobility needed for such applications, we tested whether the monitoring of vigilance might be possible using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS). NIRS is a highly mobile technique that measures hemodynamics in the surface of the brain. We demonstrate that non-invasive NIRS signals correlate with vigilance. These signals carry enough information to decode subjects' reaction times at a single trial level.
authors.affiliation: Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bogler
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Berlin NeuroImaging Center, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Department of Machine Learning, Institute of Technology, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mehnert
authors.affiliation: Berlin NeuroImaging Center, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Center for Stroke Research Berlin, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Bernstein Focus Neurotechnology Berlin, Berlin Institute of Technology, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Steinbrink
authors.affiliation: Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: John-Dylan
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Haynes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood*; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen