Poster No:
2448
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Marieke Weijs1, Silvia Missura1, Bianca Badii1, Manuel Carro Dominguez1,2, Alan Kyle1, Marc Bächinger1, Nicole Wenderoth1,2,3, Sarah Meissner1
Institutions:
1Neural Control of Movement Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, 2Neuroscience Center Zurich, University and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, 3Future Health Technologies, Singapore-ETH Centre, Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), Singapore, Singapore
First Author:
Marieke Weijs
Neural Control of Movement Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland
Co-Author(s):
Silvia Missura
Neural Control of Movement Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland
Bianca Badii
Neural Control of Movement Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland
Manuel Carro Dominguez
Neural Control of Movement Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich|Neuroscience Center Zurich, University and ETH Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland|Zurich, Switzerland
Alan Kyle
Neural Control of Movement Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland
Marc Bächinger
Neural Control of Movement Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland
Nicole Wenderoth
Neural Control of Movement Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich|Neuroscience Center Zurich, University and ETH Zurich|Future Health Technologies, Singapore-ETH Centre, Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE)
Zurich, Switzerland|Zurich, Switzerland|Singapore, Singapore
Sarah Meissner
Neural Control of Movement Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland
Introduction:
The arousal levels of the human brain is key to cognitive functioning and mental well-being. Arousal is regulated by several neuromodulatory systems in the brainstem and basal forebrain, but one key regulator is the Locus Coeruleus (LC) (Joshi et al., 2016; Zerbi et al., 2019). The LC is the main source of noradrenaline (NA) for the central nervous system and modulates cardiovascular function via projections to the brainstem and spinal cord (Samuels & Szabadi, 2008). Interestingly, there is ample evidence for a link between LC activity and non-luminance dependent changes in pupil size (Samuels & Szabadi, 2008). Utilizing this link, we have recently shown that changes in pupil size can be volitionally induced via mental strategies and pupil-based biofeedback (pupil-BF) training and are associated with changes in LC activity (Meissner et al., 2023). Here, we aim to investigate whether such volitional changes modulate (i) electrophysiological and (ii) cardiovascular arousal markers.
Methods:
In experiment I, 23 healthy volunteers (21-41 years) received 3 days of pupil-BF training to learn to volitionally up- and downregulate pupil size. Eye tracking was performed to measure and feed back pupil size during training. On day 3, simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiography (ECG) recordings were performed during pupil-BF training. In experiment II, we recorded EEG data while 20 already trained participants of an earlier cohort (Meissner et al., 2023) of pupil-BF training (21-47 years) were performing simultaneous pupil self-regulation (or a counting control task) and a two-tone auditory oddball task. EEG data were cleaned for artefacts using a slightly adapted automated EEG preprocessing pipeline Automagic. In experiment I, data were epoched in 3000 ms time windows during regulation of pupil size, the Welch's power spectrum was estimated, and the slope of the EEG power spectrum from 30-43 Hz was extracted using the fooof toolbox. ECG R-peaks were automatically detected using PhysioZoo, and RR-intervals were extracted to calculate heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV; root mean square of successive differences) during periods of up- and downregulation. In experiment II, we extracted epochs of 500 ms, from -1000 to 2500 ms around oddball tone for spectral slope calculations as in experiment I.
Results:
Both at the end of training (i.e., day 3) and during the oddball task, participants of experiment I and II were able to successfully self-regulate their pupil size reflected by a difference between up- and downregulation. EEG and ECG analyses of experiment I revealed that pupil self-regulation was linked to systematic to changes in electrophysiological and cardiovascular arousal markers: we found shallower slopes of the EEG power spectrum from 30-43 Hz, higher heart rate, and lower HRV during blocks of volitional pupil size up- than downregulation. Similar effects on the EEG slope were observed during the auditory oddball task (n = 17). Overall, we found a steeper slope around oddball targets during blocks of down- than upregulation, or the counting control condition. Furthermore, the slope is shallower right after than before stimulus presentation but returns to pre-stimulus levels within the 2500 ms window for all three conditions.
Conclusions:
Taken together, these results show that volitional self-regulation of arousal via pupil-BF using mental strategies not only changes pupil size but is also reflected in global electrophysiological and cardiovascular markers of arousal. Volitional control of pupil size modulated arousal in a pure self-regulation setting, as well as in a dual task setting during an oddball task. Thus, pupil-size can be used as a reliable marker of the brain's arousal system, and biofeedback can be used to make this system accessible for volitional control. Importantly, these findings bear tremendous translational potential for the development of arousal self-regulation applications in for example, stress-related disorders.
Learning and Memory:
Skill Learning
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
EEG/MEG Modeling and Analysis 2
Neuroanatomy, Physiology, Metabolism and Neurotransmission:
Subcortical Structures
Perception, Attention and Motor Behavior:
Attention: Auditory/Tactile/Motor 1
Physiology, Metabolism and Neurotransmission :
Physiology, Metabolism and Neurotransmission Other
Keywords:
Electroencephaolography (EEG)
Noradrenaline
Other - Arousal; Biofeedback; Neurofeedback; Eye tracking; Locus Coeruleus
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Provide references using author date format
Behar, J. A. et al. (2018). PhysioZoo: A Novel Open Access Platform for Heart Rate Variability Analysis of Mammalian Electrocardiographic Data. Frontiers in Physiology, 9, 1390.
Donoghue, T. et al. (2020). Parameterizing neural power spectra into periodic and aperiodic components. Nature Neuroscience, 23, 1655–1665.
Joshi, S. et al. (2016). Relationships between Pupil Diameter and Neuronal Activity in the Locus Coeruleus, Colliculi, and Cingulate Cortex. Neuron 89, 221–234.
Meissner, S. N. et al. (2023). Self-regulating arousal via pupil-based biofeedback. Nature Human Behaviour, doi:10.1038/s41562-023-01729-z.
Pedroni, A. et al. (2019). Automagic: Standardized preprocessing of big EEG data. NeuroImage 200, 460–473.
Samuels, E. et al. (2008). Functional Neuroanatomy of the Noradrenergic Locus Coeruleus: Its Roles in the Regulation of Arousal and Autonomic Function Part II: Physiological and Pharmacological Manipulations and Pathological Alterations of Locus Coeruleus Activity in Humans. Current Neuropharmacology, 6, 254–285.
Zerbi, V. et al. (2019). Rapid Reconfiguration of the Functional Connectome after Chemogenetic Locus Coeruleus Activation. Neuron 103, 702-718.e5.