Emotional working memory training reduces rumination and alters the EEG microstate in anxious individuals

Abstract

Rumination is an important etiological factor of anxiety pathology, with its mechanism related to the deficit of working memory. The current study examined whether working memory training (WM-T) and emotional working memory training (EWM-T) could reduce rumination in anxious individuals. The participants with high trait anxiety underwent 21 days of mobile applications-based WM-T (n = 34), EWM-T (n = 36) or placebo control (n = 36), with questionnaires, cognitive tasks, and resting electroencephalogram (EEG) as the pre-post-test indicators. The results revealed that two training groups obtained comparable operation span increases (WM-T: d = 0.53; EWM-T: d = 0.65), updating improvement (WM-T: d = 0.43; EWM-T: d = 0.60) and shifting improvement (WM-T: d = 0.49; EWM-T: d = 0.72). Furthermore, compared to the control group, the EWM-T showed significant self-reported rumination reduction ( d = 0.69), increased inhibition ability ( d = 0.72), as well as modification of resting EEG microstate C parameters (Duration C: d = 0.42, Coverage C: d = 0.39), which were closely related to rumination level ( r ~ 0.4). The WM-T group also showed the potential to reduced self-reported rumination ( d = 0.45), but with the absence of the observable inhibition improvement and resting EEG changes. The correlation analysis suggested that the emotional benefits of WM-T depending more on improved updating and shifting, and that of EWM-T depending more on improved inhibition ability. The advantage to add emotional distractions into general working memory training for targeting rumination related anxiety has been discussed.

The effectiveness of affective compared to neutral working memory training in university students with test anxiety

“…aWMT arguably offered participants the opportunity to practice the mental manipulation of emotional stimuli, perhaps making it easier for these participants to mentally engage or disengage from or shift attention towards or away from negative emotional material (such as negative test-related thoughts or feelings), and consequently resulting in overall better mental control over such emotional stimuli ( du Toit et al, 2020 ). Moreover, affective WM shares the same frontoparietal neural circuitry as emotion regulation capacity; circuitry which has demonstrated improved efficiency following aWMT ( Pan et al, 2020 ; Schweizer et al, 2013 ). Given that TA can have a detrimental impact on an individual’s academic performance, implementing such simple and cost-effective cognitive training procedures as aWMT in educational settings may enable students to overcome symptoms of TA and perform to their highest potential in evaluative situations.…”

“…In support of this notion, Schweizer et al (2011) demonstrated that both aWMT and nWMT led to transfer gains on another WM task, however, only aWMT training produced transferable gains to improved affective control. Compared to control training, aWMT also led to improved regulation of emotional distress and altered recruitment in the brain regions underlying the successful control of affective information and states ( Pan et al, 2020 ; Schweizer et al, 2013 ). Beneficial effects of aWMT in clinical populations have also been observed ( du Toit et al, 2020 ; Krause-Utz et al, 2020 ; Schweizer et al, 2017 ; however see de Voogd et al, 2016 ).…”

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

“…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. The authors argue that microstate C might be a reliable index of ruminations (Pan et al, 2020).…”

“…In addition, Pan et al ( 2020) also found a negative association between microstate C and rumination level. The authors argue that microstate C might be a reliable index of ruminations (Pan et al, 2020). Ruminations are negative valence impulsive patterns of thoughts and an essential mind-wandering transdiagnostic factor in all mood disorders (McLaughlin & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011;Pan et al, 2020).…”

Development of a gamified cognitive training app “Social Brain Train” to enhance adolescent mental health: a participatory design study protocol

“…In both adolescents and adults, affective control has been found to account for variance in the association between self-reported emotion regulation and mental health, with the relationship between affective control, emotion regulation, and mental health being especially pronounced in younger adolescents (11-14 years;Schweizer et al, 2020b). Encouragingly, affective control is amenable to cognitive training, and such training has been shown to lead to improvements in emotion regulation and mental health outcomes (du Toit et al, 2020;Krause-Utz et al, 2020;Minihan et al, 2021b;Pan et al, 2020a;Pan et al, 2020b;Schweizer et al, 2013;Veloso & Ty, 2021;but see de Voogd et al, 2016). Improving affective control, particularly during adolescence, may therefore constitute a promising intervention target.…”