Over and over again: Changes in frontal EEG asymmetry across a boring task

Perone, Sammy; Weybright, Elizabeth H.; Anderson, Alana J.

doi:10.1111/psyp.13427

Cited by 20 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 52 publications

(73 reference statements)

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“…The current study and prior neurophysiological investigations of state boredom have reported no relations between self‐report measures of peoples' subjective experience and neural correlates of regulatory or decision‐making processes (Milyavskaya et al, 2019; Perone et al., 2019). This may be attributable to the self‐report measures used, neural measures used, or a combination.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

(Expert classified)

“…Similarly, theta/beta has for decades most often been studied during baseline or resting‐state EEG and correlated with performance in other task contexts (Perone, Palanisamy, et al., 2018; Putman et al., 2014; Schutter & van Honk, 2005). A growing literature measuring FAA and theta/beta online is beginning to shed light on the functional online process these measures reflect (Harmon‐Jones & Sigelman, 2001; Kelley et al., 2017; Perone et al., 2019; van Son et al, 2019). The current study contributes to this body of work and indicates these measures reflect the dynamics of ongoing processes and are informative with regard to how people adapt to the demands of the current task context.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The proportion of epochs FFT was performed on for the optimal condition was 92.69 ( SD = 7.46) and for the easy condition was 93.11 ( SD = 8.19). FAA was computed by subtracting the natural log of average absolute alpha (8–13 Hz) at F3 from the same activity at F4, which are the sites FAA is traditionally measured from and most robustly related to measures of boredom in prior research (Perone et al., 2019). We also computed FAA at clusters of sites surrounding F3 and F4 by subtracting the natural log of absolute alpha at a set of left frontal sites surrounding and including F3 (19, 20, 23, 24, 27, 28) from the same activity at the right frontal sites surrounding and including F4 (3, 4, 117, 118, 123, 124).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…FAA dynamics have been studied as it relates to boredom as well. Perone et al (2019) probed FAA over the course of a mundane task during which participants were asked to repeatedly turn a peg for several minutes (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959; Markey et al., 2014). They found people who reported experiencing more boredom in their daily life exhibited a rightward shift in frontal alpha activity over the course of the task.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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It is all relative: Contextual influences on boredom and neural correlates of regulatory processes

2020

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Interest in the influences on and strategies to mitigate boredom has grown immensely. Boredom emerges in contexts in which people have difficulty paying attention, such as underchallenging relative to optimally challenging conditions. The current study probed contextual influences on peoples' experience of boredom by manipulating the order with which people performed easy and optimally challenging conditions of a task (N = 113). We measured frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) and theta/beta as neural correlates of self‐regulatory and attentional control processes, respectively. Results showed self‐reported boredom was higher in the easy condition when the optimal condition was completed before it. Similarly, participant's FAA shifted rightward from the first to the second task when the optimal condition was completed prior to the easy condition, indicating that self‐regulatory processes were strongly engaged under these context‐specific conditions. Theta/beta was lower during the easy relative to the optimal condition, regardless of the task order, indicating that maintaining attention in the easy condition was more difficult. No relations between perceptions of the task and neural correlates were observed. Exploratory analyses revealed higher levels of variability in FAA and theta/beta were associated with less enjoyment and more boredom, respectively. We speculate these observations reflect the less consistent engagement of self‐regulatory and attentional control and, in turn, might play a role in peoples' subjective experience. We discuss the implications of our findings for our understanding of influences on and strategies to mitigate boredom, as well as how attentional and self‐regulatory processes operate under conditions boredom typically emerges.

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Section: Resultssupporting

(Expert classified)

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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It is all relative: Contextual influences on boredom and neural correlates of regulatory processes

2020

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“…The problem is that chronic exposure to boredom is more damaging to well-being than once believed. Findings from neuroscience have demonstrated that in conditions of boredom when one has to maintain high levels of alertness, the brain reacts almost identically to how it responds to threat, activating the amygdala to release the very stress hormones that prompt the survival response of fight or flight (Arnsten et al, 2012; Perone et al, 2019; Thackray, 1981). Putting children and young people in situations of chronically low stimulation and affective and cognitive disengagement is, neuronally and hormonally speaking, equivalent to placing them in situations of stress.…”

Section: Schooling: the Elephant In The Well-being Roommentioning

confidence: 99%

De-schooling Well-being: Toward a Learning-Oriented Definition

Rincón-Gallardo

2020

ECNU Review of Education

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Purpose: (1) Critique conventional schooling as detrimental to student well-being and learning. (2) Articulate an alternative that is more conducive to learning and well-being in classrooms, schools, and educational systems. Design/Approach/Methods: I review the historical functions of compulsory schooling, the main critiques to conventional schooling developed over the past century, emerging knowledge on the neuroscience of learning and well-being, and cases of large-scale pedagogical transformation from the Global South. Findings: I argue that conventional schooling is detrimental to well-being, that deep learning is a precursor of well-being, and that compulsory schooling is not designed to cultivate it. Well-being has to be de-schooled so that students thrive in schools: The grammar of schooling has to be replaced with the language of learning. This requires deep and widespread cultural change, and some movements of pedagogical renewal from the Global South offer important lessons on how to accomplish this. Originality/Value: Expanding the scope of existing debates about student well-being by questioning the assumption that compulsory schooling is inherently good and pointing out that unless the default culture of schooling is replaced with cultures of robust learning, student well-being efforts will simply reproduce the very problems they seek to solve.

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