Abstract
This study investigates intra-regional connectivity and regional hemispheric asymmetry under two vigilance states: alertness and vigilance decrement. The vigilance states were induced on nine healthy subjects while performing 30 min in-congruent Stroop color-word task (I-SCWT). We measured brain activity using Electroencephalography (EEG) signals with 64-channels. We quantified the regional network connectivity using the phase-locking value (PLV) with graph theory analysis (GTA) and Support Vector Machines (SVM). Results showed that the vigilance decrement state was associated with impaired information processing within the frontal and central regions in delta and theta frequency bands. Meanwhile, the hemispheric asymmetry results showed that the laterality shifted to the right-temporal in delta, right-central, parietal, and left frontal in theta, right-frontal and left-central, temporal and parietal in alpha, and right-parietal and left temporal in beta frequency bands. These findings represent the first demonstration of intra-regional connectivity and hemispheric asymmetry changes as a function of cognitive vigilance states. The overall results showed that vigilance decrement is region and frequency band-specific. Our SVM model achieved the highest classification accuracy of 99.73% in differentiating between the two vigilance states based on the frontal and central connectivity networks measures.
Highlights
V IGILANCE refers to the cognitive ability to maintain attentiveness to a specific stimulus or task over prolonged periods [1]
A particular threshold [31], [32]. This range was selected due to the following reasons: (1) differences between the two cognitive levels are significant for all graph theory analysis (GTA) metrics (Cohen’s d >0.8), (2) this range is associated with the highest and stable global cost efficiencies, and (3) sparsities down to 50% are enough to eliminate insignificant connections while preserving the underlying network structure [33]
This study confirmed that the intra-regional topology and hemispheric asymmetry of phase synchrony connectivity serve as reliable indices to quantify different vigilance levels
Summary
V IGILANCE refers to the cognitive ability to maintain attentiveness to a specific stimulus or task over prolonged periods [1]. The capacity to maintain sustained vigilance tends to drop with increased time on task (TOT), leading to undesirable performance declines. This phenomenon is known as vigilance decrement. In the context of sustained attention and vigilance assessment, electroencephalogram (EEG) has gained tremendous traction due to its high temporal resolution and the expediency of conveying transient modulations and moment-to-moment neuronal interactions. EEG provides a low cost, portable, and non-invasive neuroimaging solution with restrictions suiting the motor and behavioral requirements of many cognitive tasks
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