Rhythmic Haptic Stimuli Improve Short-Term Attention

Abstract

Brainwave entrainment using rhythmic visual and/or auditory stimulation has shown its efficacy in modulating neural activities and cognitive ability. In the presented study, we aim to investigate whether rhythmic haptic stimulation could enhance short-term attention. An experiment with sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) increasing protocol was performed in which participants were presented sinusoidal vibrotactile stimulus of 15 Hz on their palm. Test of Variables of Attention (T.O.V.A.) was performed before and after the stimulating session. Electroencephalograph (EEG) was recorded across the stimulating session and the two attention test sessions. SMR band power manifested a significant increase after stimulation. Results of T.O.V.A. tests indicated an improvement in the attention of participants who had received the stimulation compared to the control group who had not received the stimulation. The D prime score of T.O.V.A. reveals that participants performed better in perceptual sensitivity and sustaining attention level compared to their baseline performance before the stimulating session. These findings highlight the potential value of using haptics-based brainwave entrainment for cognitive training.

Evaluating the effects of delivering integrated kinesthetic and tactile cues to individuals with unilateral hemiparetic stroke during overground walking

“…The term haptic cue refers to the provision of information/experience to the users through their sense of touch. Visual and auditory senses are mostly occupied by receiving information to maintain the activities of daily life, whereas the haptic sensation is typically underutilized [ 23 ]. Thus, haptic cues may be delivered to the users without burdening their frequently used senses of vision and hearing.…”

Haptics-mediated approaches for enhancing sustained attention: framework and challenges

“…After a haptic stimulation session of 15 min, the sensory motor rhythm (SMR) energy value in the C3/C4 region of the brain was observed to be higher than the baseline value observed before stimulation. This result demonstrates the effectiveness of the modulation of the EEG activity using sustained vibrotactile stimuli [77,78]. More importantly, the test of variables of attention (TOVA), a common attention-testing task, was performed before and after the stimulation session.…”

“…Because the left and right hands of humans are contralaterally controlled by the right and left hemisphere of the brain, respectively, we can compare the effects of two types of tasks on attention regulation (i.e., the left and right hemisphere working independently or synergistically). To compare the various haptics-related attentional studies mentioned above, the major features of the representative studies are summarized in Table 1 [49,64,66,77,78,99,103,109,118].…”

Vigilance Enhancement Using Computerized Techniques

“…Several studies have investigated the effects of haptic stimulation on sustained attention. Study in [94] found that 15 Hz haptic stimulation increased human sensorimotor rhythm band power as well as enhanced short-term attention to vigilance task. The results showed that, the stimulation improved the attention level to stimuli, reaction speed and accuracy.…”