Spontaneous thought and microstate activity modulation by social imitation

Valence-specific EEG microstate modulations during self-generated affective states

“…Based on the functional relevance of microstate C and previous findings of its temporal reduction during states of cognitive or behavioral manipulations (Tarailis et al, 2023), the reduction of C microstates during self-generated affective states might reflect a general re-organization pattern of mind-wandering and a possible more aroused, goal-oriented pattern of thought. Microstate C increases during states of relaxation and correlates with more profound states of mind-wandering (less thought discontinuity, less verbal thought about self) after a Social Imitation task (Tomescu et al, 2022). Indeed, we previously found a negative association between C microstates and self-oriented, verbal, and discontinuous patterns of thoughts associated with decreased self-reported levels of stress (Tomescu et al, 2022).…”

“…Microstate C increases during states of relaxation and correlates with more profound states of mind-wandering (less thought discontinuity, less verbal thought about self) after a Social Imitation task (Tomescu et al, 2022). Indeed, we previously found a negative association between C microstates and self-oriented, verbal, and discontinuous patterns of thoughts associated with decreased self-reported levels of stress (Tomescu et al, 2022). In addition, Pan et al (2020) also found a negative association between microstate C and rumination level.…”

“…For example, studies report that microstate D is more present when participants are asked to perform demanding cognitive tasks, such as mental serial subtraction tasks based on focused states of attention (Bréchet et al, 2019; Seitzman et al, 2017). More importantly, microstate D is less present in socially induced spontaneous relaxed states (Tomescu et al, 2022) and shows reduced presence with altered states of attention, consciousness, and lack of cognitive control, such as during auditory-verbal hallucinations in SZ patients (Kindler et al, 2011), deep hypnosis (Katayama et al, 2007), sleep, and dreaming (Bréchet et al, 2020; Brodbeck et al, 2012). Most importantly, the temporal dynamics of microstate D are consistently altered in mood and anxiety patients, showing significant negative associations with depressive symptomatology (Chivu et al, 2023; Murphy et al, 2020).…”

Data-Driven EEG Theta and Alpha Components Are Associated with Subjective Experience during Resting State

“…The ARSQ appeared to be a useful tool to relate biological signals collected over the resting-state session with participants’ subjective experiences and emotions. Several studies using different brain-imaging modalities and applying different analysis methods have reported associations with the ARSQ domains (DoM [ 24 , 26 ], ToM [ 20 ], Self [ 25 , 26 ], Planning [ 18 , 22 ], Sleepiness [ 16 , 24 ], Comfort [ 18 , 24 , 25 ], Somatic Awareness [ 18 , 21 , 25 , 26 ], Visual Thought [ 24 ], and Verbal Thought [ 26 ]). However, none of the studies has implemented an f-PCA approach for EEG quantification.…”

“…The Amsterdam Resting-State Questionnaire (ARSQ) [ 16 , 17 ] assesses ten mind-wandering domains that participants might experience during the resting session: Discontinuity of Mind (DoM), referring to the dynamics of ongoing thoughts; Theory of Mind (ToM), referring to other-people-related thoughts; Self, referring to self-related thoughts; Planning, referring to future-directed thoughts; Sleepiness, referring to the level of drowsiness; Comfort, referring to the level of relaxation during the session; Somatic Awareness (SA), referring to the interoceptive awareness of one’s own body; Health Concern (HC), referring to general well-being; Visual Thought (Vis), referring to visual imagery during mind wandering; and Verbal Thought (VT), referring to spontaneous thoughts formulated in words. Several EEG, fMRI, and behavioral studies have reported the relationship between ARSQ domains and physiological or psychological variables in healthy [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ] and clinical cohorts [ 27 , 28 ], confirming the importance of combined measures of subjective experience and biologically defined signals.…”