Cook, Dane B, O'Connor, Patrick J, Lange, Gudrun et al. · NeuroImage · 2007 · DOI
This study used brain imaging to see how the brains of ME/CFS patients and healthy people respond during mentally tiring tasks. Researchers found that feelings of mental fatigue were linked to activity in specific brain regions during a difficult memory task, and that ME/CFS patients showed greater brain activity in these areas compared to healthy controls, even though they were doing the same task.
This study provides neurobiological evidence that mental fatigue in ME/CFS is not psychological but reflects measurable differences in brain function during cognitively demanding tasks. Understanding these brain patterns may help validate cognitive dysfunction as a core ME/CFS symptom and guide development of targeted interventions.
This small study does not establish causation—it shows correlation between fatigue feelings and brain activity patterns, not whether abnormal brain responses cause fatigue or result from it. The findings cannot explain why CFS patients develop chronic fatigue in the first place, and the small sample size limits generalizability to the broader ME/CFS population.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Cook, Dane B, O'Connor, Patrick J, Lange, Gudrun, & Steffener, Jason (2007). Functional neuroimaging correlates of mental fatigue induced by cognition among chronic fatigue syndrome patients and controls.. NeuroImage. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.02.033
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-cook-2007-functional-neuroimaging,
author = {Cook, Dane B and O'Connor, Patrick J and Lange, Gudrun and Steffener, Jason},
title = {Functional neuroimaging correlates of mental fatigue induced by cognition among chronic fatigue syndrome patients and controls.},
journal = {NeuroImage},
year = {2007},
doi = {10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.02.033},
note = {PubMed: 17408973},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cook-2007-functional-neuroimaging},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cook-2007-functional-neuroimaging
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