The Effects of Musical Mood and Musical Arousal on Visual Attention

The presence of music is a visceral part of the human experience and its influence on cognitive function is a growing area of research in psychology. In particular, perceptual properties of music (mood and arousal) have been shown to significantly affect performance. There has been minimal research in the field on the interaction of mood and arousal and their influence on attention, thus the purpose of this study. Fifty undergraduate students currently enrolled at the University of Western Ontario were recruited for this study. Given that music is a highly subjective experience, participants rated an assortment of music clips on their mood and arousal levels. The clips that participants rated highest and lowest on mood (positive and negative) and arousal (low and high) were chosen for use on the Posner cueing task. This visual attention task was either performed in silence or while listening to music clips as per their ratings. Results indicated that musical mood and musical arousal, independently of one another, had no significant effect on visual attention. Rather, a significant interaction between the two perceptual properties was observed. The fastest reaction times were recorded when participants listened to high arousal positive music and the longest reaction times were found when participants listened to high arousal negative music. Intermediate performance occurred when participants listened to low arousal negative music and low arousal positive music. Future studies should investigate whether the combined modulatory effects of musical mood and musical arousal generalize to other attentional paradigms

Exploring sensory sensitivity, cortical excitability, and habituation in episodic migraine, as a function of age and disease severity, using the pattern-reversal task

Cortical excitability; Migraine; Visual sensitivityExcitabilitat cortical; Migranya; Sensibilitat visualExcitabilidad cortical; Migraña; Sensibilidad visualBackground Migraine is a cyclic, neurosensory disorder characterized by recurrent headaches and altered sensory processing. The latter is manifested in hypersensitivity to visual stimuli, measured with questionnaires and sensory thresholds, as well as in abnormal cortical excitability and a lack of habituation, assessed with visual evoked potentials elicited by pattern-reversal stimulation. Here, the goal was to determine whether factors such as age and/or disease severity may exert a modulatory influence on sensory sensitivity, cortical excitability, and habituation. Methods Two similar experiments were carried out, the first comparing 24 young, episodic migraine patients and 28 healthy age- and gender-matched controls and the second 36 middle-aged, episodic migraine patients and 30 healthy age- and gender-matched controls. A neurologist confirmed the diagnoses. Migraine phases were obtained using eDiaries. Sensory sensitivity was assessed with the Sensory Perception Quotient and group comparisons were carried out. We obtained pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials and calculated the N1-P1 Peak-to-Peak amplitude. Two linear mixed-effects models were fitted to these data. The first model had Block (first block, last block) and Group (patients, controls) as fixed factors, whereas the second model had Trial (all trials) and Group as fixed factors. Participant was included as a random factor in both. N1-P1 first block amplitude was used to assess cortical excitability and habituation was defined as a decrease of N1-P1 amplitude across Blocks/Trials. Both experiments were performed interictally. Results The final samples consisted of 18 patients with episodic migraine and 27 headache-free controls (first experiment) and 19 patients and 29 controls (second experiment). In both experiments, patients reported increased visual hypersensitivity on the Sensory Perception Quotient as compared to controls. Regarding N1-P1 peak-to-peak data, there was no main effect of Group, indicating no differences in cortical excitability between groups. Finally, significant main effects of both Block and Trial were found indicating habituation in both groups, regardless of age and headache frequency. Conclusions The results of this study yielded evidence for significant hypersensitivity in patients but no significant differences in either habituation or cortical excitability, as compared to headache-free controls. Although the alterations in patients may be less pronounced than originally anticipated they demonstrate the need for the definition and standardization of optimal methodological parameters.The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: AMM salary has been partially financed by a predoctoral grant from the “Fundacio Institut de Recerca Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron” (VHIR/BEQUESPREDOC/2020/MARTI). AVB salary has been partially financed by a Juan de la Cierva-Formacion grant (FJC2018-036804-I) and a Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación grant (IJC2020-043139-I) from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. XCC salary has been co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (001-P-001682) under the framework of the FEDER Operative Programme for Catalunya 2014–2020, with 1,527,637.88 euros. EC salary has been funded by Rıo Hortega grant Accion Estrategica en Salud 2017–2020, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CM20/00217). SSF has been supported by grants from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (PID2019-108531 GB-I00 AEI/FEDER) and AGAUR Generalitat de Catalunya (2021 SGR 00911). The project leading to these results has received funding from “la Caixa” Foundation under the project code “LCF/PR/PR16/51110005”

Neurophysiological correlates of sensory-attentional processing in migraine during the interictal phase

La migranya és un trastorn neurosensorial cíclic, caracteritzat per mal de cap i processament sensorial-atencional alterat, fluctuant entre atacs aguts (ictal) i normalitat (interictal). L'avaluació del processament sensorial-atencional interictal pot aportar idees pel tractament, així com contribuir a anticipar i predir futurs atacs. Específicament, falta per dilucidar la influència dels mecanismes impulsats per estímuls (mecanismes exògens) i modulats internament (mecanismes endògens) en el processament sensorial-atencional en pacients amb migranya episòdica (ME) comparat amb controls sense cefalea (CS). En aquesta tesi, es van usar registres d'electroencefalografia (EEG) combinats amb diferents paradigmes experimentals per a estudiar els correlats neurofisiològics del processament sensorial-atencional en ME interictal i CS. En primer lloc, es va desenvolupar una tasca per a estudiar els mecanismes exògens i endògens del processament sensorial-atencional en el domini visual (Estudi 1). Per a això, es va modificar una tasca de detecció i es van afegir estímuls rítmics per a generar la sincronització neuronal amb aquests estímuls (neural entrainment). CS van completar la tasca d'EEG, es va obtenir la coherència (ITC) i l'alineació de fase, entre altres mesures. Els resultats van demostrar sincronització neuronal, a través d'una alineació de fase amb els estímuls externs i la persistència de l'alineació un cop finalitzada l'estimulació rítmica. En segon lloc, la mateixa tasca es va usar per a comparar ME i CS (Estudi 2). Els resultats van indicar que tant la resposta exògena com l'endògena eren similars entre grups, segons el ITC, l'alineació de fase amb el senyal rítmic i la persistència de l'alineació després de la desaparició del senyal. Aquest fet, sembla indicar que els mecanismes relacionats amb la sincronització neuronal no estan alterats en ME interictal. En tercer lloc, explorem els mecanismes exògens del processament sensorial visual (Estudi 3). Aquest estudi va consistir en dos experiments: el primer va avaluar adults joves amb ME i CS, mentre que el segon va avaluar pacients de mitjana edat amb ME i CS. En tots dos experiments, els participants van completar el Quocient de Percepcio Sensorial (QPS) per a avaluar la sensibilitat sensorial i una tasca d'EEG d'inversió de patrons, i es van obtenir potencials evocats visuals, concretament diferències d'amplitud pic-a-pic N1-P1 (N1-P1). Els resultats van mostrar puntuacions més baixes en el QPS (sensibilitat sensorial augmentada) en ME comparat amb CS, així com amplituds de N1-P1 similars a l'inici de l'experiment entre grups amb una disminució d'aquesta mesura al llarg del temps en ME i CS, indicant una excitabilitat cortical similar i una habituació normal, respectivament. Finalment, es van avaluar els mecanismes exògens i endògens del processament sensorial-atencional en l'àmbit auditiu (Estudi 4). ME i CS van emplenar qüestionaris i van completar una tasca oddball auditiva amb EEG. Es van obtenir mesures conductuals, potència espectral i sincronització de fase (theta, alfa, beta-gamma), i potencials evocats relacionats amb esdeveniments pels estímuls estàndard (amplituds N1, P2, N2), diana i nous (amplituds MMN, P3a primerenca/tarda, P3b, RON). Els resultats van mostrar un augment de l'amplitud de la N1 i una major sincronització de la fase theta, la qual indica hipersensibilitat auditiva en ME comparat amb CS. A més, es va detectar una reducció de l'amplitud de la P3a-primerenca, amb un augment de l'amplitud de la P3a-tardana, i una disminució de l'amplitud de la RON en resposta a estímuls nous en ME comparat amb CS, la qual cosa indica una resposta postsensorial reduïda, una major assignació de recursos atencionales i una dificultat per a desviar l'atenció dels estímuls nous a la tasca principal. En conjunt, els resultats suggereixen que els pacients amb ME interictal poden presentar uns certs dèficits en el processament sensorial-atencional, encara que els efectes són més limitats del que es pensava.La migraña es un trastorno neurosensorial cíclico, caracterizado por dolor de cabeza y procesamiento sensorial-atencional alterado, fluctuando entre ataques agudos (ictal) y normalidad (interictal). La evaluación del procesamiento sensorial-atencional interictal puede aportar ideas para su tratamiento, así como contribuir a anticipar y predecir futuros ataques. Específicamente, queda por dilucidar la influencia de los mecanismos impulsados por estímulos (mecanismos exógenos) y modulados internamente (mecanismos endógenos) en el procesamiento sensorial-atencional en pacientes con migraña episódica (ME) comparado con controles sin cefalea (CS). Esta tesis usó registros de electroencefalografía (EEG) emparejados con diferentes paradigmas experimentales para estudiar los correlatos neurofisiológicos del procesamiento sensorial-atencional en ME interictal y CS. En primer lugar, se desarrolló una tarea para estudiar los mecanismos exógenos y endógenos del procesamiento sensorial-atencional en el dominio visual (Estudio 1). Para ello, se modificó una tarea de detección y se añadieron estímulos rítmicos para generar la sincronización neuronal con estos estímulos (neural entrainment). CS completaron la tarea de EEG y se extrajo la sincronización (ITC) y alineación de fase, entre otras medidas. Los resultados demostraron sincronización neuronal, a través de una alineación de fase significativa entre la actividad neuronal y los estímulos externos y la persistencia de esta alineación una vez finalizada la estimulación rítmica. En segundo lugar, la misma tarea se usó para comparar ME y CS (Estudio 2). Los resultados indicaron que tanto la respuesta exógena como la endógena eran similares entre grupos, según el ITC, la alineación de fase con la señal rítmica y la persistencia de la alineación tras la desaparición de la señal. Eso parece indicar que los mecanismos relacionados con la sincronización neuronal no están alterados en ME interictal. En tercer lugar, exploramos los mecanismos exógenos del procesamiento sensorial visual (Estudio 3). Este estudio consistió en dos experimentos: el primero evaluó adultos jóvenes con ME y CS, mientras que el segundo evaluó pacientes de mediana edad con ME y CS. En ambos experimentos, los participantes completaron el Cociente de Percepción Sensorial (CPS) para evaluar la sensibilidad sensorial y una tarea de EEG de inversión de patrones, de la cual se obtuvieron potenciales evocados visuales, concretamente diferencias de amplitud pico-a-pico de N1-P1. Los resultados mostraron puntuaciones más bajas en el CPS (sensibilidad sensorial aumentada) en ME comparado con CS, así como amplitudes de N1-P1 similares al inicio del experimento entre grupos con una disminución de esta medida a lo largo del tiempo tanto en ME y CS, indicando una excitabilidad cortical similar y una habituación normal, respectivamente. Por último, se evaluaron los mecanismos exógenos y endógenos del procesamiento sensorial-atencional en el ámbito auditivo (Estudio 4). ME y CS rellenaron cuestionarios y completaron una tarea oddball auditiva con EEG. Se obtuvieron medidas conductuales, potencia espectral y sincronización de fase (theta, alfa, beta-gamma), y potenciales evocados relacionados con eventos para estímulos estándar (amplitudes N1, P2, N2), estímulos diana y novedosos (amplitudes MMN, P3a temprana/tardía, P3b, RON). Los resultados mostraron un aumento de la amplitud de la N1 y una mayor sincronización de la fase theta, lo que indica hipersensibilidad auditiva en ME comparado con CS. Además, se detectó una disminución de la amplitud de la P3a-temprana, y un incremento de la amplitud de la P3a-tardía, junto con una reducción de la amplitud de la RON en respuesta a estímulos nuevos en ME comparado con CS, lo que indica una respuesta postsensorial reducida, una mayor asignación de recursos atencionales y una dificultad para desviar la atención de los estímulos nuevos a la tarea principal. En conjunto, los resultados sugieren que los pacientes con ME interictal pueden presentar ciertos déficits en el procesamiento sensorial-atencional, aunque los efectos son más limitados de lo que se pensaba.Migraine is a cyclic, neurosensory disorder, characterized by head pain and altered sensory-attentional processing, fluctuating between acute attacks (ictal) and normality (interictal). Evaluating sensory-attentional processing interictally may provide insights in terms of treatment, as well as contribute to anticipating and ideally predicting future attacks. In particular, the influence of stimulus-driven (exogenous) and internally modulated (endogenous) mechanisms on sensory-attentional processing in patients with episodic migraine (EM) compared to headache-free controls (HC) remains to be elucidated. This thesis used electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings paired with different experimental paradigms to study the neurophysiological correlates of sensory-attentional processing in EM interictally and HC. First, a task was developed to study the exogenous and endogenous mechanisms of sensory-attentional processing in the visual domain (Study 1). For this purpose, a detection task was modified and rhythmic stimuli were added to elicit neural entrainment, or the ability of neural oscillations to synchronize to rhythmic stimulation. HC completed the EEG task from which we computed the inter-trial coherence (ITC) and phase alignment, among other measures. The results confirmed neural entrainment, through a significant phase alignment of the neural activity to the external stimuli and the persistence of this alignment beyond the driving signal offset. Second, the same task was used to compare EM and HC (Study 2). The results indicated that both exogenous and endogenous responses were similar between groups according to the ITC, phase alignment with the rhythmic signal, and persistence of the rhythmic signal after the disappearance of the signal. This would appear to indicate that the mechanisms of neural entrainment are not altered in interictal EM. Third, we explored the exogenous mechanisms of visual sensory processing (Study 3). This study consisted of two experiments: the first evaluated young adults with EM and HC, whereas the second evaluated middle-aged patients with EM and HC. In both experiments, participants completed the Sensory Perception Quotient (SPQ) to assess sensory sensitivity and a pattern-reversal EEG task, from which visual evoked potentials, namely N1-P1 peak-to-peak amplitude differences (N1-P1), were obtained. Results showed lower SPQ scores (heightened sensory sensitivity) in EM as compared to HC, as well as similar N1-P1 amplitudes at the beginning of the experiment between groups with a decrement of this measure over time in both EM and HC, indicating similar cortical excitability and normal habituation, respectively. Finally, the exogenous and endogenous mechanisms of sensory-attentional processing were assessed in the auditory domain (Study 4). EM and HC filled out questionnaires and completed an auditory oddball EEG task. Behavioral measures, spectral power and phase synchronization (theta, alpha, beta-gamma), and event-related potentials for standard (N1, P2, N2 amplitudes), as well as target and novel stimuli (MMN, early/late P3a, P3b, RON amplitudes), were obtained. The results showed an increased N1 amplitude and increased theta phase synchronization, indicating auditory hypersensitivity in EM compared to HC. Furthermore, lower amplitudes of early P3a, increased amplitudes of late P3a, and reduced amplitudes of RON to novel stimuli were detected in EM compared to HC, signaling a reduced post-sensory response, increased allocation of attentional resources, and difficulty shifting attention away from novel stimuli back to the main task, respectively. Taken together, the results suggest that patients with EM interictally may exhibit certain deficits in sensory-attentional processing, although the effects are more limited than previously thought

Visual-reward driven changes of movement during action execution

Motor decision-making is often described as a sequential process, beginning with the assessment of available options and leading to the execution of a selected movement. While this view is likely to be accurate for decisions requiring significant deliberation, it would seem unfit for choices between movements in dynamic environments. In this study, we examined whether and how non-selected motor options may be considered post-movement onset. We hypothesized that a change in reward at any point in time implies a dynamic reassessment of options, even after an initial decision has been made. To test this, we performed a decision-making task in which human participants were instructed to execute a reaching movement from an origin to a rectangular target to attain a reward. Reward depended on arrival precision and on the specific distribution of reward presented along the target. On a third of trials, we changed the initial reward distribution post-movement onset. Our results indicated that participants frequently change their initially selected movements when a change is associated with an increase in reward. This process occurs quicker than overall, average reaction times. Finally, changes in movement are not only dependent on reward but also on the current state of the motor apparatus.IC was funded by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Grant Scheme, Grant Number is: IF-656262. The project was also funded by the HBP SGA3 Human Brain Project Specific Grant Agreement 3 (Grant Agreement No. 945539), Funded by the EU H2020 FET Flagship program

Visual-reward driven changes of movement during action execution

Motor decision-making is often described as a sequential process, beginning with the assessment of available options and leading to the execution of a selected movement. While this view is likely to be accurate for decisions requiring significant deliberation, it would seem unfit for choices between movements in dynamic environments. In this study, we examined whether and how non-selected motor options may be considered post-movement onset. We hypothesized that a change in reward at any point in time implies a dynamic reassessment of options, even after an initial decision has been made. To test this, we performed a decision-making task in which human participants were instructed to execute a reaching movement from an origin to a rectangular target to attain a reward. Reward depended on arrival precision and on the specific distribution of reward presented along the target. On a third of trials, we changed the initial reward distribution post-movement onset. Our results indicated that participants frequently change their initially selected movements when a change is associated with an increase in reward. This process occurs quicker than overall, average reaction times. Finally, changes in movement are not only dependent on reward but also on the current state of the motor apparatu

The influence of temporal unpredictability on the electrophysiological mechanisms of neural entrainment

Neural entrainment, or the synchronization of endogenous oscillations to exogenous rhythmic events, has been postulated as a powerful mechanism underlying stimulus prediction. Nevertheless, studies that have explored the benefits of neural entrainment on attention, perception, and other cognitive functions have received criticism, which could compromise their theoretical and clinical value. Therefore, the aim of the present study was [1] to confirm the presence of entrainment using a set of pre-established criteria and [2] to establish whether the reported behavioral benefits of entrainment remain when temporal predictability related to target appearance is reduced. To address these points, we adapted a previous neural entrainment paradigm to include: a variable entrainer length and increased target-absent trials, and instructing participants to respond only if they had detected a target, to avoid guessing. Thirty-six right-handed women took part in this study. Our results indicated a significant alignment of neural activity to the external periodicity as well as a persistence of phase alignment beyond the offset of the driving signal. This would appear to indicate that neural entrainment triggers preexisting endogenous oscillations, which cannot simply be explained as a succession of event-related potentials associated with the stimuli, expectation and/or motor response. However, we found no behavioral benefit for targets in-phase with entrainers, which would suggest that the effect of neural entrainment on overt behavior may be more limited than expected. These results help to clarify the mechanistic processes underlying neural entrainment and provide new insights on its applications.The project leading to these results has received funding from “la Caixa” Foundation under the project code LCF/PR/PR16/51110005 and has been co- funded with 50% by the European Regional Development Fund under the framework of the ERFD Operative Programme for Catalunya 2014– 2020, with a grant of 1.527.637,88€. AVB is supported by the Spanish MICINN Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral grant (FJC2018- 036804- I), and AMM by a predoctoral grant from the “Fundació Institut de Recerca Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron” (VHIR/BEQUESPREDOC/2020/MARTI). AVB and AMM have received a postdoctoral and a predoctoral contract re-spectively, from the “La Caixa” Foundation. SS- F is supported by grants from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (PID2019-108531GB-I00 AEI/FEDER) and AGAUR Generalitat de Catalunya (2017 SGR 1545). PPR has received honoraria as a consultant and speaker for Allergan, Almirall, Biohaven, Chiesi, Eli Lilly, Medscape, Neurodiem, Novartis, and Teva. Her research group has received research grants from Allergan, AGAUR, la Caixa foundation, Migraine Research Foundation, Instituto Investigación Carlos III, MICINN, PERIS; and has received funding for clinical trials from Alder, Electrocore, Eli Lilly, Novartis, and Teva

sj-pdf-1-cep-10.1177_03331024241230279 - Supplemental material for Quantifying sensory thresholds along the migraine cycle: An exploratory longitudinal study

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-cep-10.1177_03331024241230279 for Quantifying sensory thresholds along the migraine cycle: An exploratory longitudinal study by Nara Ikumi, Angela Marti-Marca, Anna de la Torre-Suñe, Xim Cerda-Company, Adrià Vilà-Balló, Victor J Gallardo, Edoardo Caronna, Alicia Alpuente and Patricia Pozo-Rosich in Cephalalgia</p