title: Peripheral Attentional Targets under Covert Attention Lead to Paradoxically Enhanced Alpha Desynchronization in Neurofibromatosis Type 1.
abstract: The limited capacity of the human brain to process the full extent of visual information reaching the visual cortex requires the recruitment of mechanisms of information selection through attention. Neurofibromatosis type-1 (NF1) is a neurodevelopmental disease often exhibiting attentional deficits and learning disabilities, and is considered to model similar impairments common in other neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. In a previous study, we found that patients with NF1 are more prone to miss targets under overt attention conditions. This finding was interpreted as a result of increased occipito-parietal alpha oscillations. In the present study, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to study alpha power modulations and the performance of patients with NF1 in a covert attention task. Covert attention was required in order to perceive changes (target offset) of a peripherally presented stimulus. Interestingly, alpha oscillations were found to undergo greater desynchronization under this task in the NF1 group compared with control subjects. A similar pattern of desynchronization was found for beta frequencies while no changes in gamma oscillations could be identified. These results are consistent with the notion that different attentional states and task demands generate different patterns of abnormal modulation of alpha oscillatory processes in NF1. Under covert attention conditions and while target offset was reported with relatively high accuracy (over 90% correct responses), excessive desynchronization was found. These findings suggest an abnormal modulation of oscillatory activity and attentional processes in NF1. Given the known role of alpha in modulating attention, we suggest that alpha patterns can show both abnormal increases and decreases that are task and performance dependent, in a way that enhanced alpha desynchronization may reflect a compensatory mechanism to keep performance at normal levels. These results suggest that dysregulation of alpha oscillations may occur in NF1 both in terms of excessive or diminished activation patterns.
authors.affiliation: ICNAS - Brain Imaging Network of Portugal, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Gilberto
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: IBILI - Institute for Biomedical Imaging in Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Maria J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.affiliation: ICNAS - Brain Imaging Network of Portugal, Coimbra, Portugal.|IBILI - Institute for Biomedical Imaging in Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Gabriel N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: The Computational, Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory, The Division of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Inês
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Violante
authors.affiliation: Medical Genetics Department, Pediatric Hospital of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Fabiana
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.affiliation: Medical Genetics Department, Pediatric Hospital of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Saraiva
authors.affiliation: ICNAS - Brain Imaging Network of Portugal, Coimbra, Portugal.|IBILI - Institute for Biomedical Imaging in Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Castelo-Branco
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000513:Alpha Rhythm / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009456:Neurofibromatosis 1 / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology