http://idea.library.drexel.edu/handle/1860/3661 Search the Channel search http://idea.library.drexel.edu/simple-search http://idea.library.drexel.edu/handle/1860/3961 Title: Working Memory Monitoring of Air Traffic Controllers Using Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy <br/> <br/>Authors: Ayaz, Hasan; Bunce, Scott; Willems, Ben; Hah, Sehchang; Shewokis, Patricia A.; Izzetoglu, Kurtulus; Onaral, Banu <br/> <br/>Abstract: Significant progress has been made over the last decade in understanding the physiological and neural bases of cognitive processes and behavior. The advent of new and improved brain imaging tools, that allow monitoring brain activity in ecologically valid environments, is expected to allow better identification of neurophysiological markers of human performance. Further, deployment of portable neuroimaging technologies to real time settings could help assess cognitive and motivational states of personnel assigned to perform critical tasks. Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIR) is an emerging optical brain imaging technology that relies on optical techniques to detect changes of hemodynamic responses within the prefrontal cortex in response to sensory, motor, or cognitive activation. Teaming with ongoing studies at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) William J. Hughes Technical Center’s Research, Development, and Human Factors Laboratory, fNIR has been used to monitor certified controllers as they manage realistic scenarios under typical and emergent conditions. As part of the study, 24 participants performed a standardized n-back task; which is a working memory assessment task with 4 conditions of controlled difficulty level. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed that average oxygenation changes at voxel that is close to AF7 in International 10-20 System, located within left inferior frontal gyrus in the dorsalateral prefrontal cortex, correlates with the task difficulty and increases monotonically with increasing task difficulty (F(3,69)= 4.37, p < 0.05). Post hoc analyses confirmed the differences in oxygenation changes as a function of task difficulty with 3-back is larger than the 0- and1-back tasks. These results are in agreement with recent meta-analysis of fMRI data of n-back studies. Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:58:59 GMT