White matter microstructure of the cingulum and cerebellar peduncle is related to sustained attention and working memory: A diffusion tensor imaging study

The non-invasive imaging technique of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has been used to investigate the microstructural properties of white matter (WM). The present study investigated whether individual differences in the WM structure of normal subjects as measured by fractional anisotropy (FA) values correlate with cognitive performance in terms of sustained attention and working memory. Subjects underwent DTI and performed the Continuous Performance Test (CPT) and N-back task. FA values throughout the brain were correlated with behavioral performance on a voxel-by-voxel basis to investigate relationships between WM microstructure and cognitive function. The discriminability index of CPT correlated positively with FA of the right cingulum. Accuracy of the 2-back task correlated positively with FA in bilateral cerebellar peduncles. WM microstructure of the right cingulum and bilateral cerebellar peduncles appears related to cognitive function such as sustained attention and working memory in the human brain.

[1]  A. Auchus,et al.  Diffusion Tensor Imaging of Normal-Appearing White Matter in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Early Alzheimer Disease: Preliminary Evidence of Axonal Degeneration in the Temporal Lobe , 2007, American Journal of Neuroradiology.

[2]  Carles Falcón,et al.  Decreased cerebral activation during CPT performance structural and functional deficits in schizophrenic patients , 2004, NeuroImage.

[3]  R. Poldrack,et al.  Microstructure of Temporo-Parietal White Matter as a Basis for Reading Ability Evidence from Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging , 2000, Neuron.

[4]  Derek K. Jones,et al.  Diffusion‐tensor MRI: theory, experimental design and data analysis – a technical review , 2002 .

[5]  O Salonen,et al.  Subtle cognitive deficits after cerebellar infarcts , 2006, European journal of neurology.

[6]  Toshihiko Kinoshita,et al.  Neural disorganization in the superior cerebellar peduncle and cognitive abnormality in patients with schizophrenia: A diffusion tensor imaging study , 2006, Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry.

[7]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  A Voxel-Based Morphometric Study of Ageing in 465 Normal Adult Human Brains , 2001, NeuroImage.

[8]  M. D’Esposito,et al.  Functional connectivity during working memory maintenance , 2004, Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience.

[9]  R. Cohen,et al.  Impairments of attention after cingulotomy , 1999, Neurology.

[10]  Narender Ramnani,et al.  Cerebellar contributions to working memory , 2007, NeuroImage.

[11]  L. Fasotti,et al.  Stroop interference and disorders of selective attention , 1996, Neuropsychologia.

[12]  V. Schmithorst,et al.  Differences in white matter architecture between musicians and non-musicians: a diffusion tensor imaging study , 2002, Neuroscience Letters.

[13]  P. Strick,et al.  Cerebellum and nonmotor function. , 2009, Annual review of neuroscience.

[14]  Hidenao Fukuyama,et al.  The neural basis of executive function in working memory: an fMRI study based on individual differences , 2004, NeuroImage.

[15]  Russell A Poldrack,et al.  Functional MRI at the crossroads. , 2009, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[16]  W. Kaiser,et al.  Challenging the anterior attentional system with a continuous performance task: a functional magnetic resonance imaging approach , 1998, European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience.

[17]  Adam Gazzaley,et al.  Functional interactions between prefrontal and visual association cortex contribute to top-down modulation of visual processing. , 2007, Cerebral cortex.

[18]  V. B. Domesick.  The fasciculus cinguli in the rat. , 1970, Brain research.

[19]  D. Auer,et al.  Disconnection as a mechanism for cognitive dysfunction in multiple sclerosis. , 2009, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[20]  N. Risch,et al.  The continuous performance test, identical pairs version (CPT-IP): I. new findings about sustained attention in normal families , 1988, Psychiatry Research.

[21]  Jonathan D. Cohen,et al.  Dissociating working memory from task difficulty in human prefrontal cortex , 1997, Neuropsychologia.

[22]  Joshua Ng,et al.  Microstructural correlations of white matter tracts in the human brain , 2010, NeuroImage.

[23]  M. Egan,et al.  Complexity of prefrontal cortical dysfunction in schizophrenia: more than up or down. , 2003, The American journal of psychiatry.

[24]  Michael S. Gazzaniga,et al.  Functional Connectivity: Integrating Behavioral, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data Sets , 2005, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.