Abstract
Increasing evidence suggests that cognitive-control processes can be configured to optimize either persistence of information processing (by amplifying competition between decision-making alternatives and top-down biasing of this competition) or flexibility (by dampening competition and biasing). We investigated whether high-frequency binaural beats, an auditory illusion suspected to act as a cognitive enhancer, have an impact on cognitive-control configuration. We hypothesized that binaural beats in the gamma range bias the cognitive-control style toward flexibility, which in turn should increase the crosstalk between tasks in a dual-task paradigm. We replicated earlier findings that the reaction time in the first-performed task is sensitive to the compatibility between the responses in the first and the second task—an indication of crosstalk. As predicted, exposing participants to binaural beats in the gamma range increased this effect as compared to a control condition in which participants were exposed to a continuous tone of 340 Hz. These findings provide converging evidence that the cognitive-control style can be systematically biased by inducing particular internal states; that high-frequency binaural beats bias the control style toward more flexibility; and that different styles are implemented by changing the strength of local competition and top-down bias.
Highlights
The concept of cognitive control refers to processes that are not directly involved in processing and selecting stimulus events or actions but that rather orchestrate the processes responsible for these basic functions
We observed a significant interaction between group and Response Compatibility, F(1,38) = 4.33, p = 0.04, η2p = 0.10, showing that the compatibility effect was significantly larger in the gamma group (38 ms) than in the control group (12 ms)
We tested the possibility that high-frequency binaural beats in the gamma range bias cognitive control toward more flexibility
Summary
The concept of cognitive control refers to processes that are not directly involved in processing and selecting stimulus events or actions but that rather orchestrate the processes responsible for these basic functions. Control processes are commonly characterized in terms of their capacity limitations but there is increasing evidence that they can vary in style Both functional (Goschke, 2003; Dreisbach and Goschke, 2004) and neural (Cools, 2008, 2012; Cools and D’Esposito, 2011) considerations suggest that cognitive-control states can vary both intra- and inter-individually to the degree that they either focus the available processing capacity on one single event or task or distribute capacity more widely across various processes or tasks. Binaural beats of low frequency have been argued to induce mental relaxation while high frequencies were assumed to induce alertness and attentional concentration (Vernon, 2009; Turow and Lane, 2011) This would suggest that high-frequency beats bias cognitive control toward persistence and focus, but recent findings suggest the exact opposite
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