fMRI Brain Activation During Sustained Attention Task

2020 study by Lena Lim includes fMRI data from 67 participants: 21 with childhood abuse, 19 psychiatric controls, and 27 healthy controls. The dataset captures neurofunctional activation during a parametric sustained attention task, with behavioral metrics like omission errors. It provides evidence of reduced activation in key attention regions for the abuse-exposed group.

Use Cases

• Analyze fMRI activation patterns in left inferior prefrontal cortex and insula during challenging attention conditions across the three participant groups.
• Correlate behavioral omission error rates with reported duration of childhood abuse for the 21 abuse-exposed participants.
• Compare neurofunctional responses in dorsolateral prefrontal and temporal areas between psychiatric controls and healthy controls to isolate abuse-specific effects.
• Investigate the relationship between task performance and brain activation in ventral frontal-temporal regions identified as key sustained attention areas.

Strengths

• Includes a controlled study design with 67 total participants across three distinct cohorts (abuse, psychiatric control, healthy control).
• Focuses on a novel research area, providing the first fMRI investigation of sustained attention in the context of severe childhood abuse.
• Data is associated with a peer-reviewed study published in 2020, providing methodological context.

Limitations

• Small sample size of 21 participants in the primary childhood abuse group limits statistical power and generalizability.
• Dataset scope is narrow, focused on a specific sustained attention task, which may not capture other cognitive or emotional domains.
• Lack of detailed column or sample data information makes preliminary assessment of data structure and usability difficult.

Provenance

Source

Dryad digital repository.

Collection Method

Collected via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a parametric sustained attention task with increasing load.

Time Range

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Freshness

Data was last updated in June 2020.

Geography

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