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Mental Fatigue and Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) – Based Assessment of Cognitive Performance After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Pathological mental fatigue after mild traumatic brain injury (TBI-MF) is characterized by pronounced mental fatigue after cognitive activity. The neurological origin is unknown, and we aimed in the present study to investigate how prolonged mental activity affects cognitive performance and its neur...

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Autores principales: Skau, Simon, Bunketorp-Käll, Lina, Kuhn, Hans Georg, Johansson, Birgitta
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6527600/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31139065
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00145
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author Skau, Simon
Bunketorp-Käll, Lina
Kuhn, Hans Georg
Johansson, Birgitta
author_facet Skau, Simon
Bunketorp-Käll, Lina
Kuhn, Hans Georg
Johansson, Birgitta
author_sort Skau, Simon
collection PubMed
description Pathological mental fatigue after mild traumatic brain injury (TBI-MF) is characterized by pronounced mental fatigue after cognitive activity. The neurological origin is unknown, and we aimed in the present study to investigate how prolonged mental activity affects cognitive performance and its neural correlates in individuals with TBI-MF. We recruited individuals with TBI-MF (n = 20) at least 5 months after injury, and age-matched healthy controls (n = 20). We used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to assess hemodynamic changes in the frontal cortex. The self-assessed mental energy level was measured with a visual analog scale (VAS) before and after the experimental procedure. A battery of six neuropsychological tests including Stroop–Simon, Symbol Search, Digit Span, Parallel Serial Mental Operation (PaSMO), Sustained Attention and Working Memory test, and Digit Symbol Coding (DSC) were used. The sequence was repeated once after an 8 min sustained-attention test. The test procedure lasted 2½ h. The experimental procedure resulted in a decrease in mental energy in the TBI-MF group, compared to controls (interaction, p < 0.001, η(p)(2) = 0.331). The TBI-MF group performed at a similar level on both DSC tests, whereas the controls improved their performance in the second session (interaction, p < 0.01, η(p)(2) = 0.268). During the Stroop–Simon test, the fNIRS event-related response showed no time effect. However, the TBI-MF group exhibited lower oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) concentrations in the frontal polar area (FPA), ventrolateral motor cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) from the beginning of the test session. A Stroop and Group interaction was found in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex showing that the TBI-MF group did have the same oxy-Hb concentration for both congruent and incongruent trials, whereas the controls had more oxy-Hb in the incongruent trial compared to the congruent trial (interaction, p < 0.01, η(p)(2) = 0.227). In sum these results indicate that individuals with TBI-MF have a reduced ability to recruit the frontal cortex, which is correlated with self-reported mental fatigue. This may result both in deterioration of cognitive function and the experience of a mental fatigue after extended mental activity.
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spelling pubmed-65276002019-05-28 Mental Fatigue and Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) – Based Assessment of Cognitive Performance After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Skau, Simon Bunketorp-Käll, Lina Kuhn, Hans Georg Johansson, Birgitta Front Hum Neurosci Neuroscience Pathological mental fatigue after mild traumatic brain injury (TBI-MF) is characterized by pronounced mental fatigue after cognitive activity. The neurological origin is unknown, and we aimed in the present study to investigate how prolonged mental activity affects cognitive performance and its neural correlates in individuals with TBI-MF. We recruited individuals with TBI-MF (n = 20) at least 5 months after injury, and age-matched healthy controls (n = 20). We used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to assess hemodynamic changes in the frontal cortex. The self-assessed mental energy level was measured with a visual analog scale (VAS) before and after the experimental procedure. A battery of six neuropsychological tests including Stroop–Simon, Symbol Search, Digit Span, Parallel Serial Mental Operation (PaSMO), Sustained Attention and Working Memory test, and Digit Symbol Coding (DSC) were used. The sequence was repeated once after an 8 min sustained-attention test. The test procedure lasted 2½ h. The experimental procedure resulted in a decrease in mental energy in the TBI-MF group, compared to controls (interaction, p < 0.001, η(p)(2) = 0.331). The TBI-MF group performed at a similar level on both DSC tests, whereas the controls improved their performance in the second session (interaction, p < 0.01, η(p)(2) = 0.268). During the Stroop–Simon test, the fNIRS event-related response showed no time effect. However, the TBI-MF group exhibited lower oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) concentrations in the frontal polar area (FPA), ventrolateral motor cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) from the beginning of the test session. A Stroop and Group interaction was found in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex showing that the TBI-MF group did have the same oxy-Hb concentration for both congruent and incongruent trials, whereas the controls had more oxy-Hb in the incongruent trial compared to the congruent trial (interaction, p < 0.01, η(p)(2) = 0.227). In sum these results indicate that individuals with TBI-MF have a reduced ability to recruit the frontal cortex, which is correlated with self-reported mental fatigue. This may result both in deterioration of cognitive function and the experience of a mental fatigue after extended mental activity. Frontiers Media S.A. 2019-05-14 /pmc/articles/PMC6527600/ /pubmed/31139065 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00145 Text en Copyright © 2019 Skau, Bunketorp-Käll, Kuhn and Johansson. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Skau, Simon
Bunketorp-Käll, Lina
Kuhn, Hans Georg
Johansson, Birgitta
Mental Fatigue and Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) – Based Assessment of Cognitive Performance After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
title Mental Fatigue and Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) – Based Assessment of Cognitive Performance After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
title_full Mental Fatigue and Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) – Based Assessment of Cognitive Performance After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
title_fullStr Mental Fatigue and Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) – Based Assessment of Cognitive Performance After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
title_full_unstemmed Mental Fatigue and Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) – Based Assessment of Cognitive Performance After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
title_short Mental Fatigue and Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) – Based Assessment of Cognitive Performance After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
title_sort mental fatigue and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fnirs) – based assessment of cognitive performance after mild traumatic brain injury
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6527600/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31139065
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00145
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