EEG brain oscillations are modulated by interoception in response to a synchronized motor vs. cognitive task

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Social Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Interoception, or attention to internal body signals, is crucial for social processes like affiliation and cooperation.
• The impact of consciously directing attention to interoception on electrophysiological correlates during social synchronization remains largely unexplored.
• Understanding how interoceptive attentiveness modulates brain activity during different types of social tasks is essential for social neuroscience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of explicit interoceptive attentiveness (IA) on electrophysiological (EEG) correlates during interpersonal motor and cognitive synchronization tasks.
• To compare the neurophysiological patterns associated with IA during a motor synchronization task versus a cognitive synchronization task.
• To provide the first neurophysiological classification of interoceptive manipulation effects on distinct social synchronization tasks.

Main Methods:

• Twenty-eight healthy participants performed synchronized motor and cognitive tasks under two conditions: focusing on breath (IA) and no focus.
• Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to acquire data from frontal, temporo-central, and parieto-occipital regions of interest (ROIs).
• Analysis focused on power changes in delta, theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands during task execution under IA modulation.

Main Results:

• During IA (focus condition), significantly higher delta and theta power were observed in the frontal ROI during the motor synchronization task compared to the cognitive task.
• In the IA condition, delta and beta band power increased in the temporo-central ROI during the motor synchronization task relative to the cognitive task.
• Distinct patterns of frequency band modulation were identified during motor versus cognitive synchronization under focused interoceptive attention.

Conclusions:

• Conscious attention to breath (interoceptive attentiveness) differentially modulates neural activity during interpersonal motor and cognitive synchronization.
• The findings suggest specific neurophysiological signatures associated with interoceptive influence on motor versus cognitive social coordination.
• This study pioneers the use of neurophysiological measures to differentiate the effects of interoceptive manipulation on various social synchronization tasks.