Technische Universität Berlin, FG Biopsychologie und Neuroergonomie, Berlin, Germany.
School of Computer Science, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Eur J Neurosci. 2021 Dec;54(12):8336-8354. doi: 10.1111/ejn.15095. Epub 2021 Jan 21.
Conducting neuroscience research in the real-world remains challenging because of movement- and environment-related artifacts as well as missing control over stimulus presentation. The present study overcame these restrictions by mobile electroencephalography (EEG) and data-driven analysis approaches during a real-world navigation task. During assisted navigation through an unfamiliar city environment, participants received either standard or landmark-based auditory navigation instructions. EEG data were recorded continuously during navigation. Saccade- and blink-events as well as gait-related EEG activity were extracted from sensor level data. Brain activity associated with the navigation task was identified by subsequent source-based cleaning of non-brain activity and unfolding of overlapping event-related potentials. When navigators received landmark-based instructions compared to those receiving standard navigation instructions, the blink-related brain potentials during navigation revealed higher amplitudes at fronto-central leads in a time window starting at 300 ms after blinks, which was accompanied by improved spatial knowledge acquisition tested in follow-up spatial tasks. Replicating improved spatial knowledge acquisition from previous experiments, the present study revealed eye movement-related brain potentials to point to the involvement of higher cognitive processes and increased processing of incoming information during periods of landmark-based instructions. The study revealed neuronal correlates underlying visuospatial information processing during assisted navigation in the real-world providing a new analysis approach for neuroscientific research in freely moving participants in uncontrollable real-world environments.
在真实世界中进行神经科学研究仍然具有挑战性，因为存在与运动和环境相关的伪迹，以及对刺激呈现的控制缺失。本研究通过在真实世界的导航任务中使用移动脑电图 (EEG) 和数据驱动的分析方法克服了这些限制。在辅助导航穿越不熟悉的城市环境时，参与者接受标准或地标为基础的听觉导航指令。在导航过程中连续记录 EEG 数据。从传感器级别的数据中提取眼跳和眨眼事件以及与步态相关的 EEG 活动。通过后续的非脑活动源清洁和重叠事件相关电位的展开，识别与导航任务相关的大脑活动。与接受标准导航指令的导航者相比，当导航者接受地标为基础的指令时，在眨眼后 300 毫秒开始的时间窗口中，眨眼期间与眨眼相关的脑电位在额中央导联上显示出更高的振幅，这伴随着后续空间任务中空间知识获取的改善。本研究复制了之前实验中改善的空间知识获取，表明与眼动相关的脑电位表明在地标为基础的指令期间涉及更高的认知过程和对传入信息的处理增加。该研究揭示了辅助导航中视觉空间信息处理的神经元相关性，为在不可控的真实环境中自由移动的参与者的神经科学研究提供了一种新的分析方法。
