Key result
Higher working memory task difficulty and duration linked to altered PFC activation and behavioral performance.
Why the study?
The study aimed to understand how subject performance and mental workload during an N-back working memory task vary with task difficulty and duration.
Observational (n=23)
Task difficulty and duration significantly affect prefrontal cortex hemodynamic activation and behavioral performance during working memory tasks.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Requires accounting for task load and duration in cognitive fNIRS studies; leaves open translation to clinical populations.
N-back is a working memory (WM) task to study mental workload on the prefrontal cortex (PFC). We assume that the subject’s performance and changes in mental workload over time depends on the length of the experiment. The performance of the participant can change positively due to the participant’s learning process or negatively because of objective mental fatigue and/or sleepiness. In this pilot study, we examined the PFC activation of 23 healthy subjects while they performed an N-back task with two different levels of task difficulty (2-, and 3-back). The hemodynamic responses were analyzed along with the behavioral data (correct answers). A comparison was done between the hemodynamic activation and behavioral data between the two different task levels and between the beginning and end of the 3-back task. Our results show that there is a significant difference between the two task levels, which is due to the difference in task complication. In addition, a significant difference was seen between the beginning and end of the 3-back task in both behavioral data and hemodynamics due to the subject’s learning process throughout the experiment.
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Khaksari et al. (2019) conducted an observational in Healthy (n=23). N-back task difficulty (3-back) vs. 2-back task was evaluated on Prefrontal cortex hemodynamic activation and behavioral data (correct answers). Higher working memory task difficulty (3-back vs 2-back) and task duration significantly altered prefrontal cortex hemodynamic activation and behavioral performance in healthy subjects.
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