Department of Psychology, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Norway.
Department of Psychology, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Norway.
Neuropsychologia. 2024 Nov 5;204:109008. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.109008. Epub 2024 Oct 3.
Mind wandering (MW) is the intentional or unintentional experience of attending to internal task-unrelated thoughts while being occupied with an external task. Even though maintaining task focus is assumed to require executive functions (EF), it is not clear how and to what extent MW and EF interact. Research has found that activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is associated with EF and MW. To understand the causal role of the DLPFC in relation to MW and EF, researchers have turned to non-invasive brain stimulation. Thus far, most studies have used transcranial direct current stimulation, but the results have been inconclusive. To further elucidate the relationship between the DLPFC, EF and MW, we conducted a pre-registered, sham-controlled, triple-blinded within-subject experiment by combining intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) interleaved with a recently developed MW-EF task. In contrast to our expectations, participants reported significantly more MW following real iTBS as compared to sham stimulation. However, at the same time, psychomotor precision and EF improved, indicating that participants were able to engage in resource-intensive MW while simultaneously performing well on the task. We argue that iTBS enhanced the underlying executive resources that could be used to increase both MW and task performance in line with the resource-control view of MW. This finding opens exciting avenues for studying the complex interplay between MW and EF and provides empirical support for the utility of iTBS in improving executive performance during a demanding cognitive task.
思维漫游（MW）是指在从事外部任务时，有意或无意地关注内部与任务无关的想法。尽管保持任务专注被认为需要执行功能（EF），但不清楚 MW 和 EF 是如何相互作用的，以及作用的程度如何。研究发现，背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC）的活动与 EF 和 MW 有关。为了了解 DLPFC 在 MW 和 EF 方面的因果作用，研究人员转向了非侵入性脑刺激。到目前为止，大多数研究都使用了经颅直流电刺激，但结果并不一致。为了进一步阐明 DLPFC、EF 和 MW 之间的关系，我们通过结合间歇性 theta 爆发刺激（iTBS）和最近开发的 MW-EF 任务，进行了一项预先注册、假控制、三重盲的个体内实验。与我们的预期相反，与假刺激相比，参与者在真正的 iTBS 后报告的 MW 明显更多。然而，与此同时，心理运动精度和 EF 得到了提高，这表明参与者能够在进行资源密集型 MW 的同时，很好地完成任务。我们认为，iTBS 增强了潜在的执行资源，这些资源可用于根据 MW 的资源控制观点，同时增加 MW 和任务表现。这一发现为研究 MW 和 EF 之间的复杂相互作用开辟了令人兴奋的途径，并为 iTBS 在提高高要求认知任务中的执行性能方面提供了经验支持。
