Alteraciones atencionales en Esclerosis Múltiple y su correlato psicofisiológico en la actividad fase y no fase de las bandas alfa y gamma

Abstract

Nowadays it is still unknown some of the anatomical and functional basis of cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS). In particular, there is scarce knowledge about links between attentional deficits in MS and diverse frequency bands. The present study analyzes phase and non-phase alpha and gamma modulations in 26 remitting-relapsing multiple sclerosis patients during their participation in the attention network test (ANT) and compared with twenty-six healthy controls (HC) matched in sociodemographic variables. Behavioral results showed that MS group exhibited a general slowing suggesting impairment in alerting and orienting networks as has been previously described by other studies. Time-frequency analysis of EEG revealed that gamma band was related to the spatial translation of the attentional focus, whereas alpha band seems related to the expectancy mechanisms and cognitive processing of the target. Moreover, phase and non-phase modulations differed in their psychophysiological roles and were affected differently between MS and HC groups. Summing up, non-phase modulations can unveil hidden cognitive mechanisms for the phase analysis and complete our knowledge of the cognitive impairment neural basis in multiple sclerosis pathology.