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Further evidence that PWME recruit more brain resources in response to complex tasks

Marco

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These findings are similar to those previously reported by Lange (if I remember correctly) but this time relates to childhood CFS (CCFS).

Less efficient and costly processes of frontal cortex in childhood chronic fatigue syndrome

Patients with CCFS exhibited a wider area of activated frontal regions related to attentional resources in order to increase their poorer task performance with massive mental effort. This is likely to be less efficient and costly in terms of energy requirements. It seems to be related to the pathophysiology of patients with CCFS and to cause a vicious cycle of further increases in fatigue.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158215001618

Some of the authors were also involved in the study that reported on a large 'sensory gating' study in CCFS and the neuroinflammation PET study.

I've only skimmed this so I hope I haven't misparaphrased.
 
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Marco

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This is an interesting excerpt :

A recent study reported the existence of cerebral oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction in adult CFS patients (Shungu et al., 2012), suggesting that accumulation of free radicals by excessive neural activities in chronic fatigue may induce cerebral oxidative stress.

Although further prospective study in fatigued children and adolescents and CCFS patients is necessary, it is possible that hyperactivity of the frontal regions in the brain during high-effort tasks is associated with pathophysiological alterations in the structures, neurotransmitter dynamics, and mitochondrial function in the frontal cortex from childhood to adulthood.
 

Snow Leopard

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Patients with CCFS exhibited a wider area of activated frontal regions related to attentional resources in order to increase their poorer task performance with massive mental effort.

I wonder if the observed phenomena "excessive frontal activity" may is in part due to other biases. E.g. those who use more parts of their brain (or have higher intelligence) are more likely to be functional (compared to other patients) and thus more likely to participate in such a study. This may exaggerate the effect, perhaps.

I'm not at all convinced of the following hypothesis:
It seems to be related to the pathophysiology of patients with CCFS and to cause a vicious cycle of further increases in fatigue.

This finding is curious:

In addition, in patients, the dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus (dACC) and left MFG were activated only in the dual task, and activation levels of the dACC and left MFG were positively associated with the motivation and fatigue scores, respectively.

This is interesting, because it is not what some would predict. dACC is hypothesised to be activated as an emotional response to pain. So to be positively associated with motivation, what does this mean?

Wikipedia said:
Role in registering pain

The ACC registers physical pain as shown in functional MRI studies that showed an increase in signal intensity, typically in the posterior part of area 24 of the ACC, that was correlated with pain intensity. When this pain-related activation was accompanied by attention-demanding cognitive tasks (verbal fluency), the attention-demanding tasks increased signal intensity in a region of the ACC anterior and/or superior to the pain-related activation region.[23] The ACC is the cortical area that has been most frequently linked to the experience of pain.[24] It appears to be involved in the emotional reaction to pain rather than to the perception of pain itself.[25]
Evidence from social neuroscience studies have suggested that, in addition to it's role in physical pain, the ACC may also be involved in monitoring painful social situations as well, such as exclusion or rejection. When participants felt socially excluded in an fMRI virtual ball throwing game in which the ball was never thrown to the participant, the ACC showed activation. Further, this activation was correlated with a self-reported measure of social distress, indicating that the ACC may be involved in the detection and monitoring of social situations which may cause social/emotional pain, rather than just physical pain [26].
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anterior_cingulate_cortex
 
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Snow Leopard

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Also note, that this study was conducted in Japanese, so the following may be relevant:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_temporal_gyrus
Some studies indicate that lesions of the posterior region of the middle temporal gyrus, in the left cerebral hemisphere, may result in alexia and agraphia for kanji characters (characters of Chinese origin used in Japanese writing).[2]

As such, the findings to do with the middle temporal gyrus may be less likely to be replicated by studies elsewhere in the world.
 
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Marco

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I'm not at all convinced of the following hypothesis:

You can't determine causality but, as we know cognitive exertion increases fatigue, it's not an unreasonable inference to make.

This is interesting, because it is not what some would predict. dACC is hypothesised to be activated as an emotional response to pain. So to be positively associated with motivation, what does this mean?

I found it interesting that previous studies have suggested a deficit in reward/motivation mechanisms. If I read this current study correctly these kids were more motivated to complete the test despite the extra 'effort' required.
 

Marco

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Also note, that this study was conducted in Japanese, so the following may be relevant:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_temporal_gyrus


As such, the findings to do with the middle temporal gyrus may be less likely to be replicated by studies elsewhere in the world.

It's very likely that the use of the Kana pick-out test for divided attention might activate brain areas associated with pattern recognition compared to other languages not based on pictograms but I'd be surprised if other more linguistically related brain areas aren't also recruited in other populations.