Cognitive impairment caused by repetitive subconcussion has received increasing attention in recent years. Although the dysfunction of attention has been confirmed by neuropsychological research using scales, there is no event-related potentials (ERPs) research. The Attention Network Test (ANT) has been widely used to evaluate the three separate components of attention processing (alerting, orienting, and executive control). Twenty-seven paratroopers exposed to repetitive subconcussion (subconcussion group) and 25 matched healthy control participants (HCs group) were enrolled, and all of them performed the ANT test while continuous scalp electroencephalography data were recorded. On the behavioral performance level, the subconcussion group showed a slower task response, with an especially significant slower reaction time in alerting. Concerning ERP results, reduction amplitudes of cue-N1 in the alerting network were observed, indicating that this group was less able to make efficient use of cues and maintain an alerting state for incoming information. For the orienting network, no difference in N1 amplitude was observed between the two groups. Moreover, there was a reduced P3 amplitude in the executive control network in the subconcussion group compared with the HCs group, suggesting a dysfunction of attentional resource allocation and inhibition control in the former group. This study is, to our knowledge, the first analysis of the altered attention network caused by repetitive subconcussion from the perspectives of behavioral and neuropsychology levels. These preliminary results revealed the possible damage of the alerting and executive control networks and provided a reference for further research on subconcussion cognitive impairment.

中文翻译：

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暴露于重复性脑震荡的伞兵注意力网络改变：基于行为和事件相关潜在结果的证据

近年来，重复性亚脑震荡引起的认知障碍越来越受到关注。尽管使用量表的神经心理学研究已经证实了注意力功能障碍，但没有事件相关电位 (ERPs) 研究。注意网络测试 (ANT) 已被广泛用于评估注意处理的三个独立组件（警报、定向和执行控制）。招募了27名重复性脑震荡暴露的伞兵（脑震荡组）和25名匹配的健康对照参与者（HCs组），他们都进行了ANT测试，同时记录了连续头皮脑电图数据。在行为表现水平上，脑震荡组表现出较慢的任务反应，尤其是在警报方面的反应时间明显较慢。关于 ERP 结果，观察到警报网络中 cue-N1 的降低幅度，表明该组无法有效利用线索并保持对传入信息的警报状态。对于定向网络，两组之间没有观察到 N1 幅度的差异。此外，与 HCs 组相比，脑震荡下组的执行控制网络中 P3 幅度降低，表明前组的注意力资源分配和抑制控制功能障碍。据我们所知，这项研究是第一次从行为和神经心理学层面分析重复次脑震荡引起的注意力网络改变。