Date Presented 04/03/2025
This poster will discuss EEG (‘brainwave’) feasibility pilot data for participants who completed internally and externally focused activities. Findings suggest interoception awareness strategies as promising for OT intervention.
Primary Author and Speaker: Amy Lynch
Additional Authors and Speakers: Rebecca Compton, Caroline Frost, Tiffany Mikulis, Danylo Shudrenko
PURPOSE: Interoception awareness (IA) refers to perception of one’s own internal bodily states. OT practitioners utilize IA interventions to promote emotion regulation skills. The first purpose of this study was to explore how alpha waves, which are EEG (‘brainwave’) oscillations in a rhythmic 8-12 Hz pattern, would vary under different external stimuli (‘outward focused tasks’) and internal stimuli (‘internal focused tasks’) conditions. The second purpose was to study any relationship among brainwaves and self-report of interoception awareness and stress.
DESIGN: This mixed methods, experimental design study recruited 20 undergraduate students using online postings.
METHODS: Data collection included EEG under 6 conditions, including attention to breath and sound. Participants also completed the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA; Mehling et al., 2012) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen et al., 1994).
RESULTS: EEG data found posterior areas of the scalp showed more alpha waves during internal (breath) versus external (sound) attention with eyes closed (F(6,102) = 3.4, p = .005). Breathing rate correlated with both alpha waves and MAIA attention regulation.
CONCLUSION: Results of this small pilot study show feasibility to utilize EEG in order to capture how alpha brainwaves differ with engagement in external focused versus internal focused (‘interoception’) activities. Findings also suggest that self-report using the MAIA may reflect characteristic brain states for individuals with strong interoception awareness.
IMPACT STATEMENT: This study is important to occupational therapy practice as it is scientific data suggesting neural correlation to interoception awareness intervention and brain state changes. While future studies with larger sample sizes and more conditions are planned, current data has meaningful mplications for the value of using interoception awareness assessment and intervention activities by OT practitioners.
References
Compton, R. J., Gearinger, D., & Wild, H. (2019). The wandering mind oscillates: EEG alpha power is enhanced during moments of mind-wandering. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 19, 1184–1191. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-019-00745-9
Kang, S. S., Sponheim, S. R., & Lim, K. O. (2022). Interoception underlies therapeutic effects of mindfulness meditation for posttraumatic stress disorder: A randomized clinical trial. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 7(8), 793–804. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2021.10.005
Clark, E., Brown, T., & Yu, M. L. (2024). The association between Children’s interoceptive awareness and their daily participation: An exploratory study. Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, & Early Intervention, 17(1), 120–133. https://doi.org/10.1080/19411243.2022.2158987
