Bipolar disorder (BD) is a serious mental disorder that globally affected 40 million people in 2019. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the present state of scientific knowledge only permits psychiatrists to diagnose BD using subjective and imprecise questionnaires. Therefore, developing a diagnostic tool with objective and precise biomarkers should be a major focus of research in this field. Among the potential biomarkers for BD, electroencephalogram (EEG)-based signatures of BD are considered to be the most optimal marker due to their strong links with behavioural symptoms and also their non-invasiveness. The goal of this review is to give a detailed summary of current techniques for investigating the traces of BD through EEG abnormalities. In this review, 13 studies from databases such as ScienceDirect and PubMed seeking to utilize EEG characteristics to diagnose BD were selected. The search keywords were “EEG in BD diagnosis”, “EEG microstates in BD”, and “EEG features for BD patients”. The publication date was set from 2007 to 2021. From these studies, we synthesize the effects of BD on each EEG feature, as well as detail the pros and cons when using each feature as a biomarker for BD. Results showed that EEG microstates demonstrate their potential among the seven EEG properties discussed in this article, as shown by several studies. By definition, EEG microstates are a dynamic representation of the spatial distribution of the scalp's electric potential as it varies over time. Specifically, four microstate classes recorded in different brain regions are classified into A (right-frontal left-posterior), B (left-frontal right-posterior), C (midline frontal-occipital), and D (midline frontal topographies). Greater presence of microstate class B in BD patients during task-free resting states are a distinctive characteristic of BD patients from which BD can be differentiated from other psychiatric illnesses. Besides microstates, EEG resting states are also considered to have a bright future in BD diagnosis. Specifically, by investigating brain frequency bands, researchers have discovered that BD patients exhibit abnormal delta and alpha signals as compared to healthy controls (HCs). The abnormalities of microstate B in EEG microstate characteristics would be the most promising biomarker for detecting BD. In addition, anomalies in delta and alpha signals during resting EEG states are possible BD diagnostic indicators.
Cognition is one of the most vital brain functions, which ranges from assisting students in recalling what they have been taught to assisting us in concentrating while accomplishing chores. Nowadays, many jobs require advanced cognitive abilities, particularly among high school and university students. As a result, preserving or improving our cognitive abilities has become necessary in modern society. Alpha-wave music, which targets the brain frequency range from 8 to 12 Hz, is a promising approach to boosting cognitive performance. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the immediate, short term, or long term effects of alpha wave music on the cognitive performance and brain activity of students. In an online experiment, two groups of students were recruited and randomized into control and experimental groups. The experimental group was required to listen to alpha music for two weeks (here called the intervention). Participants from both groups will have their cognitive performance assessed before, immediately after, and two weeks following the intervention. In the immediate effect experiment, another group of participants have their alpha relative power evaluated while performing different tasks. The results of the online experiment revealed that feedback from participants listening to alpha music are mostly positive, while the response time of cognitive tasks indicated an improvement trend (p<0.05). The positive potential of alpha music was also confirmed with the immediate effect study where the alpha power was higher during alpha music exposure than during the remaining sessions. In conclusion, this study provided preliminary evidence to support the implementation of alpha music intervention to improve the cognitive function of students.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.