其他摘要 | Interoception is the process by which the body perceives, interprets, integrates, and regulates internal signals. It plays a crucial role in the development and maintenance of addictive behaviors. Substance abuse leads to impaired interoception at various levels一behaviorally, peripherally, and centrally, which, in turn, can exacerbate abnormal substance use in addicts. Addicts often experience anxiety, depressive moods, and intense psychological cravings during withdrawal. Since interoception is closely linked with emotions and cravings, a dull perception of the current bodily state could magnify body prediction errors and potentially have a series of negative impacts on addicts' emotions, cravings, and drug use behaviors. Thus, enhancing addicts' perceptive ability towards current interoception is key.
Transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation (taVNS) is an essential neural regulatory method for modulating bodily interoception. Presently, there is a scarcity of research related to taVNS in interoception and addiction intervention, necessitating additional clinical controlled studies. In existing research, the effect size of taVNS is not very large, which may relate to the stimulation frequency of taVNS. Choosing a suitable taVNS stimulation frequency is crucial to achieve optimal effects. Therefore, this study aims to explore whether high-frequency stimulation is more effective than mid-frequency stimulation in enhancing bodily perception of current interoception; how interoceptive abilities differ between addicts and a healthy ulation, and whether vagal nerve stimulation can alleviate negative emotions and reduce cravings by enhancing interoceptive abilities in addicts.
Study 1 recruited 28 healthy university students to explore the effects of different frequencies (OHz, 25Hz, and 100Hz) of taVNS on peripheral nervous system activity related to interoception, interoceptive behavioral tasks, subjective reports of bodily sensations, and emotions, and to identify the most suitable taVNS stimulation parameters. The results indicated that: (1) In terms of peripheral nervous system activity, both 25Hz and 100Hz taVNS can significantly activate vagal nerve stimulation activity, with heart rate variability significantly reducing more during 100Hz stimulation than during 25Hz; furthermore, 100Hz significantly reduces post-stimulation, indicating a significant sustained effect. (2) In terms of interoceptive behavioral task performance, 100Hz is more effective than 25Hz in improving interoceptive accuracy, as interoceptive accuracy significantly increases after 100Hz taVNS stimulation compared to baseline. (3) In terms of positive and negative emotions, positive emotions significantly decrease after OHz and 100Hz taVNS stimulation, 25Hz has no effect on positive emotions, and no stimulation frequency affects negative emotions. (4) In terms of subjective reports of bodily perception, compared to baseline and post-stimulation, 100Hz taVNS significantly increases self-perception of palm and sole sweating during stimulation, indicating significant promotion of self-perception of palm and sole sweating during stimulation; heart rate perception also tends to increase during stimulation, while respiration and saliva secretion do not change noticeably. Subjective reports of bodily perception pertain to subjective reports of interoceptive sensitivity, and 100Hz taVNS can significantly enhance interoceptive sensitivity during stimulation. In summary, 100Hz taVNS has better enhancing effects on peripheral nervous system activity related to interoception, performance in interoceptive tasks, and subjective perception of the body.
Study 2 recruited 35 addicts (hospitalized alcohol-dependent patients and smokers) and the addicts was then matched and split into a taVNS group and a control group for a one-month intervention, observing the effects of taVNS intervention on interoception, emotion, and psychological cravings using questionnaires, and evaluating these three aspects in all subjects before the intervention, at the end of intervention weeks 2 and 4, with the main observation indicators including the body perception questionnaire, alcohol craving questionnaire, smoking craving scale, and Hamilton depression and anxiety scale. Concurrently, using the ecological momentary assessment method for daily tracking, data on emotional and psychological craving conditions were collected from both the taVNS and control groups during the one-month intervention period, exploring the effects of taVNS on substance dependents.
The results showed that: (1) In terms of interoceptive sensitivity, compared to baseline, interoceptive sensitivity significantly increased after the intervention in the taVNS group; (2) In terms of emotion and craving, both questionnaire results and the ecological momentary assessment results showed that taVNS intervention had no significant effect on cravings and emotions. (3) A correlational analysis was conducted on the differences in questionnaire scales for interoceptive sensitivity, emotion, and craving before and after a one-month intervention. The overall correlational analysis results showed that there was a significant negative relationship between the changes in interoceptive sensitivity and depressive emotions before and after the intervention. Further grouped correlational analysis found that, in terms of emotion, in the experimental group, interoceptive sensitivity showed a significant negative relationship with depressive and anxious emotions, but there was no difference in the control group. This suggests to us that vagal nerve stimulation might have strengthened the connection between changes in interoception and changes in depressive and anxious emotions. Regarding cravings, in the experimental group, the enhancement of interoceptive sensitivity is edges related to the enhancement of cravings, it hints to us that taVNS might also awaken specific bodily sensations related to drugs while increasing bodily interoceptive sensitivity.
conclusion, this study explored the effects of taVNS at different frequencies on interoception and found that taVNS at 100Hz demonstrated the most potent enhancement effect on interoception. Subsequently, employing 100Hz taVNS in a one-month intervention among individuals with addiction, it was found that 100Hz taVNS could significantly increase the sensitivity of interoception among addicts. Furthermore, the changes in interoceptive sensitivity were significantly negativelycorrelated with changes in depressive and anxious emotions, providing a certainreference for subsequent 100Hz taVNS interventions clinically. |
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