Modulation of mind wandering using auditory beat stimulation

走神这个词指的是注意力向内漂移到与手头的任务或当前情况无关的想法、感觉和想象上。负面情绪会加剧走神，进而降低情绪。这种恶性循环导致了抑郁症的出现。患有严重抑郁症的患者表现出更多的走神，特别是对过去的负面问题的关注。在这里，我们建议研究是否可以利用听觉节拍刺激来调节走神倾向和走神的时间取向。这项前景看好的新型听觉脑刺激技术使用的是频率稍有不同的窦音。这些音调要么叠加，产生幅度调制信号(单声道节拍)，要么分别应用于每只耳朵(双耳节拍)。这两种应用程序类型都会产生一种主观的节拍感觉。听觉节拍已被证明可以改变脑电动态，以及调节状态焦虑和记忆表现。在最近的两项行为先导研究中，我们已经表明，单耳5赫兹的节拍可以减少基线走神的受试者的走神。这项拟议的项目旨在对这一初步发现进行测试，并确定走神及其通过听觉节拍刺激进行调节的神经关联。我们计划在健康参与者中进行一项行为实验，并在接受侵入性手术前诊断的癫痫患者中进行三项颅内EEG/单单位实验。在这些实验解决的问题中，最重要的是：单耳节拍刺激能否可靠地减少走神的发生频率？走神和长时间的听觉节拍刺激之间的神经联系是什么？节拍刺激调节走神的神经机制是什么？回答这些问题可能会刺激基于节拍刺激的治疗干预措施的发展，应用于抑郁障碍。

The term mind wandering refers to the drift of attention inward to thoughts, feelings and imaginations which are not related to the task at hand or current situation. Negative emotions aggravate mind wandering, which in turn, reduces mood. This vicious cycle contributes to the emergence of depressive disorder. Patients suffering from major depression exhibit increased mind wandering, in particular, concerning negative issues from the past. Here, we propose to investigate whether the propensity to mind wander and the temporal orientation of mind wandering can be modulated using auditory beat stimulation. This promising novel auditory brain stimulation technique uses sinus tones with slightly different frequencies. The tones are either superposed resulting in amplitude modulated signals (monaural beats), or they are applied separately to each ear (binaural beats). Both application types create a subjective beat sensation. Auditory beats have been shown to alter EEG dynamics, as well as to modulate state anxiety and memory performance. In two recent behavioral pilot studies, we have shown that monaural 5 Hz beats can reduce mind wandering in subjects with high baseline mind wandering. The proposed project aims to put this preliminary finding to the test, as well as to identify the neural correlates of mind wandering and its modulation by auditory beat stimulation. We plan to conduct one behavioral experiment in healthy participants and three intracranial EEG/single-unit experiments in epilepsy patients undergoing invasive presurgical diagnostics. Among the questions addressed by these experiments, the most important ones are: Can the frequency of occurrence of mind wandering be reliably reduced by monaural beat stimulation? What are the neural correlates of mind wandering and prolonged auditory beat stimulation? Which are the neural mechanisms underlying the modulation of mind wandering by beat stimulation? Answering these questions may spur the development of beat stimulation-based therapeutic interventions for application in depressive disorders.