Mental fatigue is growingly considered to be associated with functional brain dysconnectivity. Although conventional wisdom suggests that rest break is an effective countermeasure, the underlying neural mechanisms and how they modulate fatigue-related brain dysconnectivity is largely unknown. Here, we introduce an empirical method to examine the reorganization of dynamic functional connectivity (FC) in a two-session experiment where one session including a mid-task break (Rest) compared to a successive task design in the other session (No-rest). Temporal brain networks were estimated from 20 participants and the spatiotemporal architecture was examined using our newly developed temporal efficiency analysis framework. We showed that taking a mid-task break leads to a restorative effect towards the end of experiment instead of immediate post-rest behaviour benefits. More importantly, we revealed a potential neural basis of our behaviour observation: the reduced spatiotemporal global integrity of temporal brain network in No-rest session was significantly improved with the break opportunity in the last task block of Rest session. Overall, we provided novel evidence to support beneficial effect of rest breaks in both behaviour performance and brain function. Moreover, these findings extended prior static FC studies of mental fatigue and highlight that altered dynamic FC may underlie cognitive fatigue.

中文翻译：

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休息对心理疲劳恢复的影响通过动态功能连接性的新型颞脑网络分析确定。

精神疲劳被越来越多地认为与功能性大脑不连通有关。尽管传统观点认为休息休息是一种有效的对策，但其潜在的神经机制及其如何调节与疲劳相关的大脑不连通性的方法尚不清楚。在这里，我们介绍了一种经验方法，用于在两个会话的实验中检查动态功能连接（FC）的重组，其中一个会话包含中间任务中断（Rest），而另一会话包含连续任务设计（No-rest） ）。从20名参与者中估计了时态脑网络，并使用我们新开发的时效分析框架检查了时空架构。我们表明，在任务中期进行休息会导致恢复效果，直到实验结束，而不是立即获得休息后行为的好处。更重要的是，我们揭示了行为观察的潜在神经基础：在“无休息”会话中，时空脑网络时空全局完整性的降低随着“休息”会话的最后一个任务块中的休息机会而得到了显着改善。总体而言，我们提供了新的证据来支持休息休息对行为表现和脑功能的有益影响。此外，这些发现扩展了先前对精神疲劳的静态FC研究，并强调动态FC的改变可能是认知疲劳的基础。通过在休息会议的最后一个任务块中休息，机会可以显着改善无休息会议中颞脑网络时空全局完整性的降低。总体而言，我们提供了新的证据来支持休息休息对行为表现和脑功能的有益影响。此外，这些发现扩展了先前对精神疲劳的静态FC研究，并强调动态FC的改变可能是认知疲劳的基础。通过在休息会议的最后一个任务块中休息，机会可以显着改善无休息会议中颞脑网络时空全局完整性的降低。总体而言，我们提供了新的证据来支持休息休息对行为表现和脑功能的有益影响。此外，这些发现扩展了先前对精神疲劳的静态FC研究，并强调动态FC的改变可能是认知疲劳的基础。