Effects of the Attention Training Technique on Brain Activity in Healthy University Students Assessed by EEG Source Imaging

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  • Kaori Usui
    Graduate School of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan
  • Issaku Kawashima
    ATR Brain Information Communication Research Laboratory Group, Kyoto, Japan
  • Nozomi Tomita
    Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan
  • Toru Takahashi
    Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan
  • Hiroaki Kumano
    Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan

Abstract

<jats:p> This study aimed to investigate the neurocognitive effects of the Attention Training Technique (ATT) on brain activity in healthy participants. The participants included 20 university students who were asked to practice ATT as a homework assignment for 20 days. The intracerebral source localization of their electroencephalogram during rest and the ATT task, which comprised selective attention, attention switching, and divided attention conditions, was evaluated by standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography. Brain activity during rest was subtracted from that during the ATT task, and that was compared before and after the homework assignment. The results for the divided attention condition indicated significantly decreased alpha 1 frequency band power in the left orbital frontal cortex (OFC) and alpha 2 power in the right inferior temporal cortex. Further, decreased alpha 1 power in the left OFC correlated with reduced subjective difficulty during the divided attention condition. One possibility is that the brain activity changed as the effect of ATT practice, although this study cannot confirm causality. Further studies are required which include a control group that would complete similar training without the ATT task. </jats:p>

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