Modulation of mind wandering using auditory beat stimulation

走神这个术语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，感受和想象上。负面情绪会加剧走神，从而降低情绪。这种恶性循环导致抑郁症的出现。患有重度抑郁症的患者表现出更多的走神，特别是关于过去的负面问题。在这里，我们建议调查是否倾向于走神和走神的时间方向可以使用听觉节拍刺激调制。这种有前途的新型听觉脑刺激技术使用频率略有不同的正弦音调。这些音调要么叠加在一起，产生调幅信号（单声道节拍），要么分别施加到每只耳朵（双耳节拍）。这两种应用程序类型创建一个主观的节拍感觉。听觉搏动已被证明可以改变EEG动力学，以及调节状态焦虑和记忆表现。在最近的两个行为试点研究中，我们已经表明，单耳5赫兹节拍可以减少高基线走神受试者的走神。该项目旨在测试这一初步发现，并通过听觉节拍刺激识别思维漫游及其调制的神经相关性。我们计划在健康受试者中进行一项行为实验，在接受侵入性术前诊断的癫痫患者中进行三项颅内EEG/单单元实验。在这些实验所解决的问题中，最重要的是：单耳节拍刺激能否可靠地降低走神发生的频率？走神和长时间的听觉节拍刺激的神经相关性是什么？哪些神经机制是通过节拍刺激来调节走神的基础？解决这些问题可能会刺激基于搏动刺激的治疗干预在抑郁症中的应用。

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.