Open AccessSensory Filtering and Sensory Memory in Breast Cancer Survivors
Author(s) -
Robert D. Melara,
James C. Root,
Raquel Bibi,
Tim A. Ahles
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
clinical eeg and neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-5202
pISSN - 1550-0594
DOI - 10.1177/1550059420971120
Subject(s) - sensory gating , sensory system , sensory memory , gating , stimulus (psychology) , psychology , audiology , sensory stimulation therapy , frontal lobe , electroencephalography , neuroscience , echoic memory , mismatch negativity , cognition , medicine , cognitive psychology
Survivors of breast and other cancers often report protracted difficulty in performing tasks involving concentration and memory, even years after the completion of treatment. The current study investigated whether cancer and treatment history is associated with deficits in sensory filtering (gating out) and sensory memory (gating in), early processes in stimulus processing that may contribute to difficulties in later remembering. A group of breast cancer survivors and age-matched healthy control participants (mean age 54 years) underwent testing with paired-click and oddball tasks while electroencephalographic (EEG) signals were recorded. The survivors showed relatively poor inhibition of redundant sensory stimulation (P50 suppression). Dipole source analysis localized the survivors' impairment to the hippocampus, with preservation of function in gating mechanisms of the frontal lobe and auditory cortex. Survivors also showed disruption to sensory memory processes needed to register novel information in an otherwise uniform auditory environment (mismatch negativity). The findings suggest that survivors experience deficits in early, automatic mechanisms of sensory gating, which may trigger a cascade of later perceived attentional and memory deficits. If our account is accurate, ideal therapies might aim to restore early inhibitory processes, such as those gauged by P50 suppression.