Jennifer Marie Walz1,
Michael Carapezza1, Bin Lou1, Robin Goldman1,
Truman Brown2, Paul Sajda1
1Biomedical
Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; 2Radiology
and Radiological Science, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston,
SC, United States
We investigate the variability of the fMRI BOLD response related to natural waxing and waning of attention during a simple auditory target detection task. We use the prestimulus alpha power in simultaneously-acquired EEG as a measure of attention, and contrast the BOLD response for high vs. low attention trials. We show that when task-engagement wanes, recruitment of brain areas becomes limited, involving only the minimum areas required for the task.