Sherman Sage O, Greenstein Maya, Basner Mathias, Clark Torin K, Anderson Allison P
Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States.
Unit for Experimental Psychiatry, Division of Sleep and Chronobiology, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2023 Jun 1;17:1092154. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1092154. eCollection 2023.
Adding noise to a system to improve a weak signal's throughput is known as stochastic resonance (SR). SR has been shown to improve sensory perception. Some limited research shows noise can also improve higher order processing, such as working memory, but it is unknown whether SR can broadly improve cognition.
We investigated cognitive performance while applying auditory white noise (AWN) and/or noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (nGVS).
We measured cognitive performance ( = 13 subjects) while completing seven tasks in the cognition test battery (CTB). Cognition was assessed with and without the influence of AWN, nGVS, and both simultaneously. Performance in speed, accuracy, and efficiency was observed. A subjective questionnaire regarding preference for working in noisy environments was collected.
We did not find broad cognitive performance improvement under the influence of noise ( > 0.1). However, a significant interaction was found between subject and noise condition for accuracy ( = 0.023), indicating that some subjects exhibited cognitive changes with the addition of noise. Across all metrics, noisy environment preference may trend to be a potential indicator of whether subjects will exhibit SR cognitive benefits with a significant predictor in efficiency ( = 0.048).
This study investigated using additive sensory noise to induce SR in overall cognition. Our results suggest that using noise to improve cognition is not applicable for a broad population; however, the effect of noise differs across individuals. Further, subjective questionnaires may be a means to identify which individuals are sensitive to SR cognitive benefits, but further investigation is needed.
向系统添加噪声以提高弱信号的吞吐量被称为随机共振（SR）。随机共振已被证明可以改善感官知觉。一些有限的研究表明，噪声还可以改善高阶处理，如工作记忆，但随机共振是否能广泛改善认知尚不清楚。
我们研究了应用听觉白噪声（AWN）和/或噪声性前庭电刺激（nGVS）时的认知表现。
我们在完成认知测试电池（CTB）中的七项任务时测量了认知表现（n = 13名受试者）。在有无AWN、nGVS以及两者同时存在的影响下评估认知。观察速度、准确性和效率方面的表现。收集了一份关于在嘈杂环境中工作偏好的主观问卷。
我们发现在噪声影响下没有广泛的认知表现改善（p > 0.1）。然而，在准确性方面发现受试者与噪声条件之间存在显著交互作用（p = 0.023），这表明一些受试者在添加噪声后表现出认知变化。在所有指标中，对嘈杂环境的偏好可能倾向于成为一个潜在指标，表明哪些受试者在效率方面有显著预测因素时会表现出随机共振认知益处（p = 0.048）。
本研究调查了使用附加感官噪声在整体认知中诱导随机共振。我们的结果表明，使用噪声改善认知并不适用于广泛人群；然而，噪声的影响因个体而异。此外，主观问卷可能是识别哪些个体对随机共振认知益处敏感的一种手段，但还需要进一步研究。
