Dynamic Transitions Between Brain States Predict Auditory Attentional Fluctuations

Hirohito M Kondo; Hiroki Terashima; Takahiro Ezaki; Takanori Kochiyama; Ken Kihara; Jun I Kawahara

doi:10.3389/fnins.2022.816735

Dynamic Transitions Between Brain States Predict Auditory Attentional Fluctuations

Front Neurosci. 2022 Mar 18:16:816735. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.816735. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Hirohito M Kondo¹, Hiroki Terashima², Takahiro Ezaki³, Takanori Kochiyama⁴, Ken Kihara⁵, Jun I Kawahara⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology, Chukyo University, Nagoya, Japan.
² NTT Communication Science Laboratories, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Atsugi, Japan.
³ Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴ Brain Activity Imaging Center, ATR-Promotions, Seika, Japan.
⁵ Department of Information Technology and Human Factors, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan.
⁶ Department of Psychology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.

Abstract

Achievement of task performance is required to maintain a constant level of attention. Attentional level fluctuates over the course of daily activities. However, brain dynamics leading to attentional fluctuation are still unknown. We investigated the underlying mechanisms of sustained attention using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants were scanned with fMRI while performing an auditory, gradual-onset, continuous performance task (gradCPT). In this task, narrations gradually changed from one to the next. Participants pressed a button for frequent Go trials (i.e., male voices) as quickly as possible and withheld responses to infrequent No-go trials (i.e., female voices). Event-related analysis revealed that frontal and temporal areas, including the auditory cortex, were activated during successful and unsuccessful inhibition of predominant responses. Reaction-time (RT) variability throughout the auditory gradCPT was positively correlated with signal changes in regions of the dorsal attention network: superior frontal gyrus and superior parietal lobule. Energy landscape analysis showed that task-related activations could be clustered into different attractors: regions of the dorsal attention network and default mode network. The number of alternations between RT-stable and erratic periods increased with an increase in transitions between attractors in the brain. Therefore, we conclude that dynamic transitions between brain states are closely linked to auditory attentional fluctuations.

Keywords: attentional fluctuation; brain dynamics; energy landscape analysis; functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); gradual-onset continuous performance task; hearing; reaction time (RT); sustained attention.