In two functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) experiments conducted in two different groups of healthy human subjects, we examined activation in the amygdala due to cued anticipation of painful stimuli while subjects performed a simple continuous performance task (CPT) with either a fixed or a parametrically varied trial duration.
This paradigm also combined a continuous performance task (+CPT) with painful temperature stimuli and had two temporal phases (i.e., anticipation and stimulation).
This paradigm combined intermittent engagement in a continuous performance task (CPT) with the cued occurrence of thermal stimuli and had two temporal phases (i.e., anticipation and stimulation), two levels of attentional load (i.e., +CPT and -CPT) and two levels of stimulus strength (i.e., painful heat and non-painful warmth).
Vaisman et al reported that ingestion of phospholipid-conjugated EPA and DHA increased the scores for a continuous performance task compared with scores obtained when the fatty acids in the ingested oil were stored as triglycerides.
Other studies have assessed impulsive action with continuous performance tasks in which subjects respond quickly to targets and must withhold responding to catch trials (38,39).
ADS, a modified test of Variable Attention computer program (TOVA) in Korea, is a computerized program being widely used to diagnose ADHD and assess continuous performance function in children with attention-deficit or hyperactivity.
These two attentional functions can both be assessed with continuous performance tasks (CPTs), which measure the ability to respond to a rare target (e.g., the letter "X" when it is preceded by the letter "A" but not by other letters) over an extended period of time (usually ≥ 15 min).
Our previous study, using factor analysis based on 14 items of a Taiwan Chinese version of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) [ 19], yielded four dimensions: negative, delusion/hallucination, disorganization, and excitement whose discrimination validity were further supported by their correlations with Continuous Performance Test indices [ 20].
We administered a computerized version of the Nelson Test [24], a modified WCST with 48 cards, and the degraded Continuous Performance Test CPT-DS [25] with 3 blocks (720 digits, 10% targets, degradation 40%) and a total duration of 12 minutes.
