Evidence in Support of Analogical Reasoning Improvements with Executive Attention Intervention in Healthy Young Adults

Analogical reasoning improvement is important in educational outcome improvement.Inspired by recent ideas and evidence,we applied anti-saccade task training as an executive attention intervention and tested whether it could improve analogical reasoning performance.A serial-task paradigm was applied where participants performed an anti-saccade followed by an analogical reasoning task including a perception condition.The experimental group finished the anti-saccade task in which the ratio of anti-saccade trials to pro-saccade trials was 5:1 while the counterpart was 1:1 in the active control group.Also,a blank control group was established where participants merely finished the analogical reasoning task.Event-related electroencephalographic(EEG)data were recorded when participants were performing the executive attention and analogical reasoning tasks.In addition,their resting state EEG was collected before and after the executive attention intervention.Behaviorally,the experimental group reacted significantly faster than the other two groups in analogical reasoning but not in perception.At the neural level,in the experimental group alone,the anti-saccade trials elicited a smaller N2 than pro-saccade trials and the resting alpha power was improved after executive attention intervention.No significant difference in P2 was found between the two groups in analogical reasoning or perception but the experimental group showed a larger late positive component than the active control group in analogical reasoning.We also found that the late positive component mediated the relationship between the N2 of anti-saccade trials and analogical reasoning reaction times in the experimental group.We further discussed the role of executive attention in the analogical reasoning process,which may pave the way for the future reliable improvement of fluid intelligence.

Oxygen Metabolism-induced Stress Response Underlies Heartbrain Interaction Governing Human Consciousness-breaking and Attention

Neuroscientists have emphasized visceral influences on consciousness and attention,but the potential neurophysiological pathways remain under exploration.Here,we found two neurophysiological pathways of heartbrain interaction based on the relationship between oxygen-transport by red blood cells(RBCs)and consciousness/attention.To this end,we collected a dataset based on the routine physical examination,the breaking continuous flash suppression(b-CFS)paradigm,and an attention network test(ANT)in 140 immigrants under the hypoxic Tibetan environment.We combined electroencephalography and multilevel mediation analysis to investigate the relationship between RBC properties and consciousness/attention.The results showed that RBC function,via two independent neurophysiological pathways,not only triggered interoceptive re-representations in the insula and awareness connected to orienting attention but also induced an immune response corresponding to consciousness and executive control.Importantly,consciousness played a fundamental role in executive function which might be associated with the level of perceived stress.These results indicated the important role of oxygen-transport in heart-brain interactions,in which the related stress response affected consciousness and executive control.The findings provide new insights into the neurophysiological schema of heartbrain interactions.