Performance-related stress can impair sustained attention, inhibitory control, and memory. This randomized, double-blinded, sham-controlled parallel-arm trial evaluates whether a 30-minute EEG-guided binaural beat audio intervention reduces subjective stress/performance anxiety and improves cognition, and whether it changes task-related brain reactivity measured by fMRI. The intervention uses real-time single-electrode EEG recorded over the left prefrontal cortex to dynamically adjust binaural beat frequencies to guide the brain toward a target state; the sham condition uses non-binaural music delivered through identical headphones. Adult music majors preparing for an upcoming concert will complete pre- and post-intervention fMRI sessions during cognitive/music tasks (Stop Signal Reaction Task, Music Reading Task, Music Memory Retrieval Task) and complete visual analog scales (VAS) assessing performance anxiety, stress, and related subjective states. The primary outcomes include fMRI task-related activity in stress-regulation regions (dlPFC, amygdala, hippocampus), behavioral inhibition indices from the stop-signal task, music memory retrieval accuracy, and VAS-reported stress/performance anxiety.
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Differences in fMRI blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) responses of the brain in response to Stop Signals of a Stop Signal Reaction Time (SSRT) recorded following administration of each intervention and sham control.
Timeframe: Baseline (immediately prior to 30-minute intervention/control audio session) and immediately post-intervention/control audio session (within 30 minutes after completion of session).
Differences in fMRI blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses in the brain to images of the staff during the Music Reading Task (MRT), recorded following administration of each intervention and sham control.
Timeframe: Baseline (immediately prior to 30-minute intervention/control audio session) and immediately post-intervention/control audio session (within 30 minutes after completion of session).
Differences in fMRI blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) responses in the brain to images of the staff during the Music Memory Retrieval Task (MMRT), recorded after administration of each intervention and the sham control.
Timeframe: Baseline (immediately prior to 30-minute intervention/control audio session) and immediately post-intervention/control audio session (within 30 minutes after completion of session).
Chathurika S Dhanasekara, MD, PhD