Side effects of monaural beat stimulation during sustained mental work on mind wandering and performance measures.

Excessive mind wandering (MW) contributes to the development and maintenance of psychiatric disorders. Previous studies have suggested that auditory beat stimulation may represent a method enabling a reduction of MW. However, little is known about how different auditory stimulation conditions are subjectively perceived and whether this perception is in turn related to changes in subjective states, behavioral measures of attention and MW.

Mind wandering in anxiety disorders: A status report.

Many investigations have targeted the subject of worry in anxiety disorders. Worry can be regarded as a subtype of mind wandering (MW), which is undeliberate, perseverative, negatively-valenced, and mainly future-oriented. Nevertheless, until now only a few studies have explored the role of overall MW in the origin and course of anxiety disorders.

Insights into the time course of mind wandering during task execution.

Our minds tend to wander, sometimes with little control. Despite this phenomenon, that can affect our ability to perform everyday tasks gaining much interest, relatively little is understood about the actual time course of MW across an experimental task. With this in mind, we collated data from two previously reported studies investigating the effect of auditory beat stimulation on MW.

Modulation of Mind Wandering Using Monaural Beat Stimulation in Subjects With High Trait-Level Mind Wandering.

Mind wandering (MW) refers to a state when attention shifts from the task at hand or current situation toward thoughts, feelings, and imaginations. This state is often accompanied by a decline in mood, and patients suffering from major depression exhibit more perseverative MW. Hence, although the directionality of the relationship between mood and MW is still under investigation, it may be useful to explore possible avenues to reduce MW.

On the relationship between mind wandering and mindfulness.

Mind wandering (MW) and mindfulness have both been reported to be vital moderators of psychological wellbeing. Here, we aim to examine how closely associated these phenomena are and evaluate the psychometrics of measures often used to quantify them. We investigated two samples, one consisting of German-speaking unpaid participants (GUP, n [Formula: see text] 313) and one of English-speaking paid participants (EPP, n [Formula: see text] 228) recruited through MTurk.

UCHL5 controls β-catenin destruction complex function through Axin1 regulation.

Wnt/β-catenin signaling is crucially involved in many biological processes, from embryogenesis to cancer development. Hence, the complete understanding of its molecular mechanism has been the biggest challenge in the Wnt research field. Here, we identified ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase like 5 (UCHL5), a deubiquitinating enzyme, as a novel negative regulator of Wnt signaling, upstream of β-catenin.

Neuropsychological features of mind wandering in left-, right- and extra temporal lobe epilepsy.

Purpose: Mind wandering, i.e. mental time-travelling and imagery unrelated to the current situation has recently been related to mesial temporal lobe (memory) function.

Mind wandering and depression: A status report.

While many clinical studies and overviews on the contribution of rumination to depression exist, relatively little information regarding the role of mind wandering (MW) in general is available. Therefore, it remains an open question whether patterns of MW are altered in depression and, if so, how these alterations are related to rumination. Here, we review and discuss studies investigating MW in cohorts, showing either a clinically significant depression or with clinically significant disorders accompanied by depressive symptoms.

Neural activity in the human anterior thalamus during natural vision.

In natural vision humans and other primates explore environment by active sensing, using saccadic eye movements to relocate the fovea and sample different bits of information multiple times per second. Saccades induce a phase reset of ongoing neuronal oscillations in primary and higher-order visual cortices and in the medial temporal lobe. As a result, neuron ensembles are shifted to a common state at the time visual input propagates through the system (i.

Auditory Beat Stimulation Modulates Memory-Related Single-Neuron Activity in the Human Medial Temporal Lobe.

Auditory beats are amplitude-modulated signals (monaural beats) or signals that subjectively cause the perception of an amplitude modulation (binaural beats). We investigated the effects of monaural and binaural 5 Hz beat stimulation on neural activity and memory performance in neurosurgical patients performing an associative recognition task. Previously, we had reported that these beat stimulation conditions modulated memory performance in opposite directions.

Low Intensity, Transcranial, Alternating Current Stimulation Reduces Migraine Attack Burden in a Home Application Set-Up: A Double-Blinded, Randomized Feasibility Study.

Low intensity, high-frequency transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) applied over the motor cortex decreases the amplitude of motor evoked potentials. This double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel group study aimed to test the efficacy of this method for acute management of migraines. The patients received either active (0.

Patterns of single-neuron activity during associative recognition memory in the human medial temporal lobe.

Electrophysiological activity in medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures is pivotal for declarative long-term memory. Single-neuron and microcircuit findings capitalizing on human microwire recordings from the medial temporal lobe are still fragmentary. In particular, it is an open question whether identical or different groups of neurons participate in different memory functions.

Reduced past-oriented mind wandering in left compared to right medial temporal lobe epilepsy.

Mind wandering refers to a shift of attention away from a task at hand to task-unrelated thoughts. Several groups have shown increased activation of the left medial temporal lobe (MTL) before and during spontaneous thoughts suggesting that the left MTL may play a crucial role in mind wandering. Due to its relevance for long-term memory, we further hypothesized that the left MTL is particularly involved in mind wandering towards the past.

New perspectives for the modulation of mind-wandering using transcranial electric brain stimulation.

When our attention is decoupled from an ongoing task and becomes coupled to thoughts and feelings not being subject to task engagement, we are mind-wandering. This transient and pervasive mental process can occupy a considerable amount of our waking hours. Mind-wandering is understood to exert both positive and negative effects on well-being, and has been shown to play a role in mood disorders and depression.

Modulation of Item and Source Memory by Auditory Beat Stimulation: A Pilot Study With Intracranial EEG.

Auditory beat stimulation is an upcoming technique for non-invasive brain stimulation. Its influence on mediotemporal regions and memory processes has not yet been thoroughly investigated. A recent study suggests that auditory beats are able to alter intracranial EEG (iEEG) power and phase synchronization.

Memory encoding-related anterior hippocampal potentials are modulated by deep brain stimulation of the entorhinal area.

Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the human entorhinal area using 50 Hz pulses has revealed conflicting results regarding memory performance. Moreover, its impact on memory-related hippocampal potentials has not yet been investigated.

Methods: We recorded data from seven epilepsy patients implanted with depth electrodes in the entorhinal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, and parahippocampal cortex.

Mind wandering simultaneously prolongs reactions and promotes creative incubation.

Mind wandering (MW) refers to the disengagement of attention from the external environment and the generation of thoughts unrelated to the task at hand. It is a ubiquitous cognitive process resulting in lapses of attention. MW imposes a negative impact on attention-based task performance, but also has been associated with enhanced creativity and future planning.

The Impact of Monaural Beat Stimulation on Anxiety and Cognition.

Application of auditory beat stimulation has been speculated to provide a promising new tool with which to alleviate symptoms of anxiety and to enhance cognition. In spite of reportedly similar EEG effects of binaural and monaural beats, data on behavioral effects of monaural beats are still lacking. Therefore, we examined the impact of monaural beat stimulation on anxiety, mood and memory performance.

Monitoring transcranial direct current stimulation induced changes in cortical excitability during the serial reaction time task.

The measurement of the motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitudes using single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a common method to observe changes in motor cortical excitability. The level of cortical excitability has been shown to change during motor learning. Conversely, motor learning can be improved by using anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).

The impact of electrical stimulation techniques on behavior.

Unlabelled: Low-intensity transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) methods are a group of noninvasive brain stimulation techniques, whereby currents are applied with intensities typically ranging between 1 and 2 mA, through the human scalp. These techniques have been shown to induce changes in cortical excitability and activity during and after the stimulation in a reversible manner. They include transcranial direct current simulation (tDCS), transcranial alternating current simulation (tACS), and transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS).

Theta-gamma phase-phase coupling during working memory maintenance in the human hippocampus.

The theta-gamma neural coding theory suggests that multiple items are represented in working memory (WM) by a superposition of gamma cycles on theta oscillations. To enable a stable, non-interfering representation of multiple items, such a theta-gamma neural code may be reflected by phase-phase coupling, i.e.

Neuroplastic effects of transcranial near-infrared stimulation (tNIRS) on the motor cortex.

Near-infrared light stimulation of the brain has been claimed to improve deficits caused by traumatic brain injury and stroke. Here, we exploit the effect of transcranial near-infrared stimulation (tNIRS) as a tool to modulate cortical excitability in the healthy human brain. tNIRS was applied at a wavelength of 810 nm for 10 min over the hand area of the primary motor cortex (M1).

Auditory beat stimulation and its effects on cognition and mood States.

Auditory beat stimulation may be a promising new tool for the manipulation of cognitive processes and the modulation of mood states. Here, we aim to review the literature examining the most current applications of auditory beat stimulation and its targets. We give a brief overview of research on auditory steady-state responses and its relationship to auditory beat stimulation (ABS).

Lipid management in ramadan.

During Ramadan fast, Muslims must refrain from smoking, eating, drinking, having sexual activity, and consuming oral medications from sunrise to sunset. It has been previously shown that Ramadan fasting induces favourable changes on metabolic parameters, reduces oxidative stress and inflammation and promotes cardiovascular benefits. Although ill people are exempted from fasting, most patients with chronic diseases are keen on performing this Islamic-ritual.