Cerebral Vascularity and Performance on an Abbreviated Vigilance Task

Abstract

Transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD) and transcranial cerebral oximetry (TCCO) measures of blood flow and oxygenization levels in the brain were collected while observers performed an abbreviated 12 min vigilance task designed by Temple et al. (2000) to serve as an analog to more traditional long-duration vigils. Both measures showed higher levels of cerebral vascular activity in the right as compared to the left cerebral hemisphere indicating that the overall level of performance in the abbreviated vigil is right-lateralized, a finding that coincides with the outcome of earlier blood flow studies featuring more traditional long-duration vigils. This parallel provides strong support for Temple et al's (2000) argument that the abbreviated vigil is a valid analog of more traditional long-duration vigilance tasks and implies that laterality in vigilance is a generalized effect in terms of cerebral vascular dynamics that appears in terms of both blood oxygenation and hemovelocity.