Effects of the Attention Training Technique on Brain Activity in Healthy University Students Assessed by EEG Source Imaging

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the neurocognitive effects of the Attention Training Technique (ATT) on brain activity in healthy participants. The participants included 20 university students who were asked to practice ATT as a homework assignment for 20 days. The intracerebral source localization of their electroencephalogram during rest and the ATT task, which comprised selective attention, attention switching, and divided attention conditions, was evaluated by standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography. Brain activity during rest was subtracted from that during the ATT task, and that was compared before and after the homework assignment. The results for the divided attention condition indicated significantly decreased alpha 1 frequency band power in the left orbital frontal cortex (OFC) and alpha 2 power in the right inferior temporal cortex. Further, decreased alpha 1 power in the left OFC correlated with reduced subjective difficulty during the divided attention condition. One possibility is that the brain activity changed as the effect of ATT practice, although this study cannot confirm causality. Further studies are required which include a control group that would complete similar training without the ATT task.

Keywords

Attention training technique divided attention EEG source localization metacognitive therapy

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bremner

J. D.

Vythilingam

Vermetten

Nazeer

Adil

Khan

Staib

L. H.

Charney

D. S.

(2002). Reduced volume of orbitofrontal cortex in major depression. Biological Psychiatry, 51(4), 273–279. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3223(01)01336-1

Eastwood

J. D.

Frischen

Fenske

M. J.

Smilek

(2012). The unengaged mind: Defining boredom in terms of attention. Perspectives on Psychological Science: A Journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 7(5), 482–495. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612456044

Faber

P. L.

Lehmann

Tei

Tsujiuchi

Kumano

Pascual-Marqui

R. D.

Kochi

(2012). EEG source imaging during two qigong meditations. Cognitive Processing, 13(3), 255–265. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-012-0441-4

Girkin

C. A.

Miller

N. R.

(2001). Central disorders of vision in humans. Survey of Ophthalmology, 45(5), 379–405. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0039-6257(00)00208-3

Goldman

R. I.

Stern

J. M.

Engel

J. J.

Cohen

M. S.

(2002). Simultaneous EEG and fMRI of the alpha rhythm. Neuroreport, 13(18), 2487–2492. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.wnr.0000047685.08940.d0

Gronwall

D. M. A.

(1977). Paced auditory serial-addition task: A measure of recovery from concussion. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 44(2), 367–373. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1977.44.2.367

Hiroe

Kojima

Yamamoto

Nojima

Kinoshita

Hashimoto

Watanabe

Maeda

Furukawa

T. A.

(2005). Gradations of clinical severity and sensitivity to change assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory-II in Japanese patients with depression. Psychiatry Research, 135(3), 229–235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2004.03.014

Holmes

A. P.

Blair

R. C.

Watson

J. D. G.

Ford

(1996). Nonparametric analysis of statistic images from functional mapping experiments. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism: Official Journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, 16(1), 7–22. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004647-199601000-00002

Imai

Kumano

Imai

Nedate

(2015). Subjective aspects of voluntary attention control and its relation to depression and anxiety. The Japanese Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 8(1), 85–95.

10.

Kawashima

Kumano

(2017). Prediction of mind-wandering with electroencephalogram and non-linear regression modeling. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, 365. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00365

11.

Knowles

M. M.

Wells

(2018). Single dose of the attention training technique increases resting alpha and beta-oscillations in frontoparietal brain networks: A randomized controlled comparison. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1768. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01768

12.

Kojima

Furukawa

T. A.

Takahashi

Kawai

Nagaya

Tokudome

(2002). Crosscultural validation of the Beck Depression Inventory-II in Japan. Psychiatry Research, 110(3), 291–299. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-1781(02)00106-3

13.

Kringelbach

M. L.

(2005). The human orbitofrontal cortex: Linking reward to hedonic experience. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience, 6(9), 691–702. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1747

14.

Kubicki

Herrmann

W. M.

Fichte

Freund

(1979). Reflections on the topics: EEG frequency bands and regulation of vigilance. Pharmakopsychiatrie, Neuro-Psychopharmakologie, 12(2), 237–245. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0028-1094615

15.

Linehan

M. M.

Heard

H. L.

Armstrong

H. E.

(1993). Naturalistic follow-up of a behavioral treatment for chronically parasuicidal borderline patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 50(12), 971–974. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1993.01820240055007

16.

Niedermeyer

da Silva

F. L.

(2005). Electroencephalography: Basic principles, clinical applications, and related fields (5th ed.). Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/45745233

17.

Normann

van Emmerik

A. A.

Morina

(2014). The efficacy of metacognitive therapy for anxiety and depression: A meta-analytic review. Depression and Anxiety, 31(5), 402–411. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22273.

18.

Papageorgiou

Wells

(2000). Treatment of recurrent major depression with attention training. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 7(4), 407–413. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1077-7229(00)80051-6

19.

Pascual-Marqui

R. D.

(2002). Standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA): Technical details. Methods & Findings in Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology, 24, 5–12.

20.

Petrovic

Ingvar

(2002). Imaging cognitive modulation of pain processing. Pain, 95(1–2), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3959(01)00467-5

21.

Pizzagalli

D. A.

Oakes

T. R.

Fox

A. S.

Chung

M. K.

Larson

C. L.

Abercrombie

H. C.

Schaefer

S. M.

Benca

R. M.

Davidson

R. J.

(2004). Functional but not structural subgenual prefrontal cortex abnormalities in melancholia. Molecular Psychiatry, 9(4), 393–405. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4001469

22.

Ring

H. A.

Bench

C. J.

Trimble

M. R.

Brooks

D. J.

Frackowiak

R. S.

Dolan

R. J.

(1994). Depression in Parkinson's disease: A positron emission study. The British Journal of Psychiatry: The Journal of Mental Science, 165(3), 333–339. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.165.3.333

23.

Rolls

E. T.

Grabenhorst

(2008). The orbitofrontal cortex and beyond: From affect to decision-making. Progress in Neurobiology, 86(3), 216–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pneurobio.2008.09.001

24.

Roppongi

Nakamura

Asami

Hayano

Otsuka

Uehara

Fujiwara

Saeki

Hayasaka

Yoshida

Shimizu

Inoue

Hirayasu

(2010). Posterior orbitofrontal sulcogyral pattern associated with orbitofrontal cortex volume reduction and anxiety trait in panic disorder. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 64(3), 318–326. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1819.2010.02085.x

25.

Siegle

G. J.

Ghinassi

Thase

M. E.

(2007). Neurobehavioral therapies in the 21st century: Summary of an emerging field and an extended example of cognitive control training for depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 31(2), 235–262. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-006-9118-6

26.

Tomita

Imai

Kanayama

Kawashima

Kumano

(2017). Use of multichannel near infrared spectroscopy to study relationships between brain regions and neurocognitive tasks of selective/divided attention and 2-back working memory. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 124(3), 703–720. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031512517700054

27.

Wells

(1990). Panic disorder in association with relaxation induced anxiety: An attentional training approach to treatment. Behavior Therapy, 21(3), 273–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7894(05)80330-2

28.

Wells

(2007). The attention training technique: Theory, effects, and a metacognitive hypothesis on auditory hallucinations. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 14(2), 134–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpra.2006.01.010

29.

Wells

(2009). Metacognitive therapy for anxiety and depression. The Guilford Press. https://www.guilford.com/books/Metacognitive-Therapy-for-Anxiety-and-Depression/Adrian-Wells/9781609184964

30.

Wells

Fisher

Myers

Wheatley

Patel

Brewin

C. R.

(2009). Metacognitive therapy in recurrent and persistent depression: A multiple-baseline study of a new treatment. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 33(3), 291–300. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-007-9178-2

31.

Wells

Matthews

(1994). Attention and emotion: A clinical perspective. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.5640020208

32.

Wells

Matthews

(1996). Modelling cognition in emotional disorder: The S-REF model. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34(11–12), 881–888. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(96)00050-2

33.

Wells

White

Carter

(1997). Attention training: Effects on anxiety and beliefs in panic and social phobia. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 4(4), 226–232. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-0879(199712)4:4<226::AID-CPP129>3.0.CO;2-M