Aloysius, Nursabrina Mohd Firdaus
(2021)
Alpha and low gamma embedded with white noise binaural beats modulating working memory among Malaysian young adults: an exploratory fMRI study.
Masters thesis, Universiti Sains Perubatan.
Abstract
Introduction: Exposure to alpha and gamma binaural beats (BB) have provided
inconsistent findings in its modulating role of working memory (WM). White noise
(WN) has acted as a control condition. Objective: The study aims to explore the effect
of load on the effectiveness of WN embedded BB on WM performance using
functional magnetic resonance imaging. Method: The research utilised experimental,
block-design n-back task paradigm. Results: Six young adults (3 males and 3 females)
within the Kota Bharu vicinity were recruited with mean age of 23.5 ± 0.84. The twoway
repeated measures ANOVA (p<0.05) on response accuracy shows there is no
significant main effect for conditions and load. The interaction effect of conditions and
load on response accuracy (2=.171) demonstrates slight improvement in response
accuracy The two-way repeated measures ANOVA (p<0.05) of reaction time (RT)
shows a significant difference in the main effect of load, in particular during 1-back
condition post BB. There is no interaction effect of conditions and load on RT. For
GWN and AWN exposure, one sample t-test (p<0.05,uncorrected) suggests that the
activation of posterior cingulate gyrus are associated with attentional modulation and
supplementary motor area is closely related to WM mechanism respectively. Two-way
repeated measures ANOVA (p<0.05,uncorrected) of the WM task further supports the
aforementioned modulation in post-BB activations with the activation of thalamic
regions in GWN and frontoparietal regions in AWN. Conclusion: The preliminary findings suggest that WN embedded BB should be considered further as a non-invasive
WM improvement method amongst clinical and non-clinical population.
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