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Effects of Sensory and Cognitive Vigilance Tasks on Cerebral Blood Flow Velocity

Beam, Christina Ashley

Abstract Details

2002, MA, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences : Psychology.
Although neuroimaging research has been successful in identifying brain regions involved in vigilance, such research has not related changes in the regions so identified to the efficiency with which observers perform the task. Thus, Parasuraman, Warm, and See (1998) have argued that the functional role of these brain systems in vigilance remains generally unknown. Mayleben et al. (1999) and Hitchcock et al. (in press) attempted to overcome the limitations of previous studies through the use of the Transcranial Doppler Sonography (TCD), a noninvasive neuroimaging technique that permits continuous monitoring of blood flow velocity in the mainstem intracranial arteries. Their research indicated that the vigilance decrement is accompanied by parallel declines in blood flow over time in the right hemisphere. These studies required observers to make sensory discriminations to detect critical signals. However, vigilance tasks can also require discriminations that are more symbolic than sensory in character. Such tasks are termed cognitive vigilance tasks (Davies & Tune, 1969). Nothing is known about blood flow changes with these types of vigilance tasks. Accordingly, this study measured TCD-determined blood flow during the performance of two cognitive tasks (simple and complex), as well as a sensory task. Blood flow in the right middle cerebral artery paralleled performance, indexed in terms of the accuracy of signal detections, for all three tasks, but not the speed of signal detections. Results are consistent with prior neuroimaging findings of right hemisphere dominance in vigilance, but not with arguments that signal detections and response time are equivalent measures of the same underlying process (Buck, 1966). In addition to blood flow measurements, this study also examined stress reactions to the cognitive as compared to the sensory vigilance tasks by means of the Dundee Stress State Questionnaire (DSSQ, Matthews et al., 1999). The results indicated that the cognitive tasks and the sensory task elicited the same pattern of stress reactions found in several other studies employing the DSSQ to assess the stress of sustained attention (Matthews et al., in press). Specifically, Distress increased and Task Engagement decreased from pre- to post-vigil.
Dr. Joel Warm (Advisor)
79 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Beam, C. A. (2002). Effects of Sensory and Cognitive Vigilance Tasks on Cerebral Blood Flow Velocity [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1036017621

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Beam, Christina. Effects of Sensory and Cognitive Vigilance Tasks on Cerebral Blood Flow Velocity. 2002. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1036017621.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Beam, Christina. "Effects of Sensory and Cognitive Vigilance Tasks on Cerebral Blood Flow Velocity." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2002. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1036017621

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)