Study of neurovascular and autonomic response in a divided attention test by means of EEG, ECG and NIRS signals

We evaluated neurovascular and autonomic response to a Divided Attention task within a group of 16 healthy subjects, by means of Electroencephalography, Electrocardiography, functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy techniques, acquired simultaneously. We exctracted Alpha (8-13,5 Hz) and Beta (13,5-30 Hz) power rhythms with a spectral autoregressive residual model, and inter-beat-interval (RR series) and separated superficial (extracortical) and depth NIRS contribution. Cross Correlation Function at different time lags was then calculated between each signal and the task, modeled as a square wave and among couples of signals, in order to evaluate the sequence of activation of the different physiological districts involved and the common information shared. Results showed the presence of a cascade of responses and a strong influence by the block task on each signal, representative of the neurovascular coupling elicited by the cognitive cerebral activation. © 2011 IEEE.