Acute effects of caffeine on threat-selective attention: moderation by anxiety and EEG theta/beta ratio

Abstract

This further supports TBR as a marker of executive control and highlights the importance of taking baseline executive function into consideration when studying effects of caffeine on executive functions.

Electroencephalography theta/beta ratio covaries with mind wandering and functional connectivity in the executive control network

“…TBR during rest was first associated with ADHD, 1,3 and later linked to various psychological functions and cognitive/emotional processes that rely on executive cognitive control, including trait and state AC, reversal learning, WM training, and control over automatic attentional threat biases. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] The current results support the hypothesis that these relations reflect TBR dynamics occurring during the resting-state measurement that are caused by fluctuations in the balance between cognitive control and associative thought. Debriefing revealed that participants were mostly involved in thoughts about day-to-day issues and episodic memories or performance-interfering thoughts about experimental procedures when they lost count, confirming that the pre-button press periods represent periods of MW and thus loss of sustained attention toward the breath-counting task.…”

“…The observed relation between MW-related changes in TBR and ECN functional connectivity strengthens previous conceptualizations of TBR as reflecting voluntary top-down processes of EC (including AC), mediated by dlPFC, over bottom-up processes from limbic areas. 13,15,[69][70][71] For instance, recent studies from our laboratory reported that TBR moderated automatic attentional threat-biases as measured by a dot-probe task, 14,15 and by an emotional threat interference task 16 in the manner predicted by theories explaining the role of catecholamines in PFC-mediated executive functioning, 72,73 and theoretical models describing the role of cognitive control over such automatic attentional biases to threat (see Refs. 74 and 75).…”

“…11 In healthy samples, TBR correlated negatively with self-reported doi: 10.1111/nyas.14180 trait 10,[12][13][14] and state attentional control (AC) 12 and with the controlled modulation of threat-selective attention. [14][15][16] TBR also correlated negatively with objectively measured AC. 17 Higher TBR has also been related to more reward-motivated decision making that requires executive reversal learning and inhibition of dominant approach−motivated behavior [18][19][20] and to lower trait anxiety, 10,14,15 also implying potential benefits of having a higher TBR.…”

“…Resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) provides measures of neural oscillatory activity in different frequency bands, such as the slow theta (4-7 Hz) and faster beta (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30). Lubar 1 reported higher theta/beta ratio (TBR) in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and attention deficit disorder, which has been frequently replicated since (e.g., see Refs.…”

“…Almost all previous studies examining TBR in relation to executive processes assessing healthy participants focused on frontal TBR, which is also the focus of the current study. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16]18,21,22 TBR is typically measured during several minutes of resting state, without manipulation of executive processes. Consequently, the evidence that TBR reflects EC functions remains indirect.…”