Attentional performance is correlated with the local regional efficiency of intrinsic brain networks.
Attention is a crucial brain function for human beings. Using neuropsychological paradigms and task-based functional brain imaging, previous studies have indicated that widely distributed brain regions are engaged in three distinct attention subsystems: alerting, orienting and executive control (EC). Here, we explored the potential contribution of spontaneous brain activity to attention by examining whether resting-state activity could account for individual differences of the attentional performance in normal individuals. The resting-state functional images and behavioral data from attention network test (ANT) task were collected in 59 healthy subjects. Graph analysis was conducted to obtain the characteristics of functional brain networks and linear regression analyses were used to explore their relationships with behavioral performances of the three attentional components. We found that there was no significant relationship between the attentional performance and the global measures, while the attentional performance was associated with specific local regional efficiency. These regions related to the scores of alerting, orienting and EC largely overlapped with the regions activated in previous task-related functional imaging studies, and were consistent with the intrinsic dorsal and ventral attention networks (DAN/VAN). In addition, the strong associations between the attentional performance and specific regional efficiency suggested that there was a possible relationship between the DAN/VAN and task performances in the ANT. We concluded that the intrinsic activity of the human brain could reflect the processing efficiency of the attention system. Our findings revealed a robust evidence for the functional significance of the efficiently organized intrinsic brain network for highly productive cognitions and the hypothesized role of the DAN/VAN at rest.
Department of Computer Information and Technology, School of Computer Science and Technology, Tianjin University Tianjin, China ; Research Center for Sectional and Imaging Anatomy, Department of Anatomy and Histology Embryology, Shandong University School of Medicine Jinan, China.
Junhai
J
Xu
Research Center for Sectional and Imaging Anatomy, Department of Anatomy and Histology Embryology, Shandong University School of Medicine Jinan, China.
Xuntao
X
Yin
Research Center for Sectional and Imaging Anatomy, Department of Anatomy and Histology Embryology, Shandong University School of Medicine Jinan, China.
Haitao
H
Ge
Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of Medical College, Qingdao University Qingdao, China.
Yan
Y
Han
Department of Epidemiology, Qingdao Municipal Central for Disease Control and Prevention Qingdao, China.
Zengchang
Z
Pang
Research Center for Sectional and Imaging Anatomy, Department of Anatomy and Histology Embryology, Shandong University School of Medicine Jinan, China.
Yuchun
Y
Tang
Department of Computer Information and Technology, School of Computer Science and Technology, Tianjin University Tianjin, China.
Baolin
B
Liu
Research Center for Sectional and Imaging Anatomy, Department of Anatomy and Histology Embryology, Shandong University School of Medicine Jinan, China.
Shuwei
S
Liu
attention; attention network test; functional connectivity; graph analysis; resting state fMRI