TY - JOUR
T1 - Cognitive Fatigue defined in the context of attention networks
AU - Holtzer, Roee
AU - Shuman, Melissa
AU - Mahoney, Jeannette R.
AU - Lipton, Richard
AU - Verghese, Joe
N1 - Funding Information:
The Einstein Aging Study is supported by the National Institute on Aging program project grant AGO3949. Dr Holtzer is supported by the National Institute on Aging Paul B. Beeson Award K23 AG030857.
PY - 2011/1
Y1 - 2011/1
N2 - We examined the effect of cognitive fatigue on the Attention Networks Test (ANT). Participants were 228 non-demented older adults. Cognitive fatigue was operationally defined as decline in alerting, orienting, and executive attention performance over the course of the ANT. Anchored in a theoretical model implicating the frontal basal ganglia circuitry as the core substrate of fatigue, we hypothesized that cognitive fatigue would be observed only in executive attention. Consistent with our prediction, significant cognitive fatigue effect was observed in executive attention but not in alerting or orienting. In contrast, orienting improved over the course of the ANT and alerting showed a trend, though insignificant, that was consistent with learning. Cognitive fatigue is conceptualized as an executive failure to maintain and optimize performance over acute but sustained cognitive effort resulting in performance that is lower and more variable than the individual's optimal ability.
AB - We examined the effect of cognitive fatigue on the Attention Networks Test (ANT). Participants were 228 non-demented older adults. Cognitive fatigue was operationally defined as decline in alerting, orienting, and executive attention performance over the course of the ANT. Anchored in a theoretical model implicating the frontal basal ganglia circuitry as the core substrate of fatigue, we hypothesized that cognitive fatigue would be observed only in executive attention. Consistent with our prediction, significant cognitive fatigue effect was observed in executive attention but not in alerting or orienting. In contrast, orienting improved over the course of the ANT and alerting showed a trend, though insignificant, that was consistent with learning. Cognitive fatigue is conceptualized as an executive failure to maintain and optimize performance over acute but sustained cognitive effort resulting in performance that is lower and more variable than the individual's optimal ability.
KW - Aging
KW - Attention networks
KW - Cognitive fatigue
KW - Executive control
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78650572639&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=78650572639&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13825585.2010.517826
DO - 10.1080/13825585.2010.517826
M3 - Article
C2 - 21128132
AN - SCOPUS:78650572639
SN - 1382-5585
VL - 18
SP - 108
EP - 128
JO - Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition
JF - Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition
IS - 1
ER -
