Decreasing propensity to mind-wander with transcranial direct current stimulation

Mind wandering or task-unrelated thought (TUT) is associated with various impairments as well as with adaptive functions, indicating the importance of regulating this process. Although Axelrod et al. (2015) have shown that anodal/cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the left/right lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) could increase the propensity for mind wandering, it remains unclear whether a different tDCS protocol could have the reverse effect. The present study investigated whether and how simultaneous stimulation of the left LPFC and right inferior parietal lobule (IPL) could modulate TUTs. These areas may be crucial for regulating both TUTs and its neural underpinning (default mode network). We applied tDCS to the right IPL/left LPFC prior to a perceptually demanding flanker task and compared TUT propensity during the task among tDCS groups. We found that TUT propensity was reduced by anodal/cathodal tDCS of the right IPL/left LPFC compared with cathodal/anodal tDCS, and the results for the sham group were intermediate between these two groups. This is the first study to demonstrate that tDCS can decrease, as well as increase, TUT propensity.

[1]  N. Lavie,et al.  Harnessing the wandering mind: The role of perceptual load , 2009, Cognition.

[2]  M. Nitsche,et al.  Pharmacological Modulation of Cortical Excitability Shifts Induced by Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Humans , 2003, The Journal of physiology.

[3]  Bharat B. Biswal,et al.  Identifying the default mode network structure using dynamic causal modeling on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging , 2014, NeuroImage.

[4]  Raja Parasuraman,et al.  Battery powered thought: Enhancement of attention, learning, and memory in healthy adults using transcranial direct current stimulation , 2014, NeuroImage.

[5]  Jonathan Smallwood,et al.  The Decoupled Mind: Mind-wandering Disrupts Cortical Phase-locking to Perceptual Events , 2014, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[6]  R. N. Spreng,et al.  The default network and self‐generated thought: component processes, dynamic control, and clinical relevance , 2014, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[7]  L. Cohen,et al.  Transcranial direct current stimulation: State of the art 2008 , 2008, Brain Stimulation.

[8]  R. Nathan Spreng,et al.  The wandering brain: Meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies of mind-wandering and related spontaneous thought processes , 2015, NeuroImage.

[9]  N. Lavie,et al.  On the Efficiency of Visual Selective Attention: Efficient Visual Search Leads to Inefficient Distractor Rejection , 1997 .

[10]  D. Watson,et al.  Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[11]  Jason S. McCarley,et al.  Mind Wandering Behind the Wheel , 2011, Hum. Factors.

[12]  Evelyn Barron,et al.  Absorbed in Thought , 2011, Psychological science.

[13]  Á. Pascual-Leone,et al.  Modulation of large-scale brain networks by transcranial direct current stimulation evidenced by resting-state functional MRI , 2012, Brain Stimulation.

[14]  Masako Okamoto,et al.  Three-dimensional probabilistic anatomical cranio-cerebral correlation via the international 10–20 system oriented for transcranial functional brain mapping , 2004, NeuroImage.

[15]  Derek K. Jones,et al.  Perisylvian language networks of the human brain , 2005, Annals of neurology.

[16]  M. Kane,et al.  What Mind Wandering Reveals About Executive-Control Abilities and Failures , 2012 .

[17]  Cameron S Carter,et al.  Stimulus and response conflict processing during perceptual decision making , 2009, Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience.

[18]  D. Schacter,et al.  The Brain's Default Network , 2008, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[19]  L. Phillips,et al.  Shifting moods, wandering minds: negative moods lead the mind to wander. , 2009, Emotion.

[20]  M. Fenske,et al.  The Unengaged Mind , 2012, Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

[21]  Lawrence W. Barsalou,et al.  Mind wandering and attention during focused meditation: A fine-grained temporal analysis of fluctuating cognitive states , 2012, NeuroImage.

[22]  N. Lavie.  Distracted and confused?: Selective attention under load , 2005, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[23]  J. Smallwood,et al.  Counting the cost of an absent mind: Mind wandering as an underrecognized influence on educational performance , 2007, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[24]  Nadia Bolognini,et al.  Improving ideomotor limb apraxia by electrical stimulation of the left posterior parietal cortex. , 2015, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[25]  Geraint Rees,et al.  Increasing propensity to mind-wander with transcranial direct current stimulation , 2015, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[26]  Scott T. Grafton,et al.  Wandering Minds: The Default Network and Stimulus-Independent Thought , 2007, Science.

[27]  Michal Lavidor,et al.  When Less Is More: Evidence for a Facilitative Cathodal tDCS Effect in Attentional Abilities , 2012, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[28]  Habib Benali,et al.  Impact of meditation training on the default mode network during a restful state. , 2013, Social cognitive and affective neuroscience.

[29]  Todd C. Handy,et al.  Mind Wandering and the Adaptive Control of Attentional Resources , 2013, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[30]  K. Christoff,et al.  Experience sampling during fMRI reveals default network and executive system contributions to mind wandering , 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[31]  H. Möller,et al.  Prefrontal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Changes Connectivity of Resting-State Networks during fMRI , 2011, The Journal of Neuroscience.