Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Working Memory Performance under Negative Affect is More Susceptible to Higher Cognitive Workloads with Different Neural Haemodynamic Correlates

Ying Xing Feng
ORCID logo ,
Masashi Kiguchi
,
Wei Chun Ung
,
Sarat Chandra Dass
,
Ahmad Fadzil Mohd Hani
,
Tong Boon Tang
,
Eric Tatt Wei Ho
* ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 30 April 2021 / Approved: 5 May 2021 / Online: 5 May 2021 (13:18:34 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Feng, Y.X.; Kiguchi, M.; Ung, W.C.; Dass, S.C.; Mohd Hani, A.F.; Tang, T.B.; Ho, E.T.W. Working Memory Performance under a Negative Affect Is More Susceptible to Higher Cognitive Workloads with Different Neural Haemodynamic Correlates. Brain Sci. 2021, 11, 935. Feng, Y.X.; Kiguchi, M.; Ung, W.C.; Dass, S.C.; Mohd Hani, A.F.; Tang, T.B.; Ho, E.T.W. Working Memory Performance under a Negative Affect Is More Susceptible to Higher Cognitive Workloads with Different Neural Haemodynamic Correlates. Brain Sci. 2021, 11, 935.

Abstract

The effect of stress on task performance is complex, too much or too little negatively affects performance; and there exists an optimal level of stress to drive optimal performance. Task difficulty and external affective factors are distinct stressors that impact cognitive performance. Neuroimaging studies showed that mood affects working memory performance and the correlates are changes in haemodynamic activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). We investigate the interactive effects of affective states and working memory load (WML) on working memory task performance and haemodynamic activity using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) neuroimaging on the PFC of healthy participants. We seek to understand if haemodynamic responses could tell apart workload related stress from situational stress arising from external affective distraction. We found that the haemodynamic changes towards affective stressor and workload related stress were more dominant in the medial and lateral PFC respectively. Our study reveals distinct affective state-dependent modulations of haemodynamic activity with increasing WML in n-back tasks, which correlate with decreasing performance. The influence of negative affect on performance is greater at higher WML, and haemodynamic activity showed evident changes in temporal, and both spatial and strength of activation differently with WML.

Keywords

Working memory performance; workload stress; affective states; functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS); haemodynamic activity; prefrontal cortex (PFC)

Subject

Medicine and Pharmacology, Neuroscience and Neurology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Download PDF

Comments (0)

We encourage comments and feedback from a broad range of readers. See criteria for comments and our Diversity statement.

Leave a public comment
Send a private comment to the author(s)
* All users must log in before leaving a comment
Views 0
Downloads 0
Comments 0
Metrics 0
Get PDF Cite Share 0
Bookmark BibSonomy Mendeley Reddit Delicious
×
Alerts
Notify me about updates to this article or when a peer-reviewed version is published.
We use cookies on our website to ensure you get the best experience.
Read more about our cookies here.