Slow brain rhythms that shape attention and mind-wandering
Official title: Meso-microscale physiology and dynamics of slow network fluctuations
Funded at Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psych Res · NIH-11349775 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Using electrodes placed inside the human brain, researchers are measuring how slow shifts in brain activity influence whether you focus on the outside world or on your own thoughts.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psych Res NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Orangeburg, United States) |
| Project start | April 15, 2017 |
| Project end | March 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $693,453 |
| NIH project number | 5P50MH109429-09 |
| Project ID | NIH-11349775 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are adults who are undergoing intracranial electrode monitoring as part of clinical care (for example epilepsy patients) and who can perform simple cognitive tasks during recording.
✕Less likely to help
People who are not undergoing invasive brain monitoring or who want immediate treatment changes are unlikely to receive direct benefit from participation.
What this research studies
You would take part in tasks and more natural listening/thinking situations while doctors record brain signals with electrodes placed on or in the brain (intracranial EEG). The team will measure local fast activity (broadband high-frequency activity and single-unit firing) and slower network fluctuations across brain areas like the default mode and fronto-parietal attention networks. They will use connectivity and directionality methods (for example Granger causality, phase coupling, and mutual information) to see how brain regions drive shifts between external attention and inward thought. Much of the work is done in people who already have intracranial electrodes for clinical monitoring, and the experiments move from tightly controlled tasks to more natural, real-world-like conditions.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could improve understanding of attention and mind-wandering and help guide new treatments for attention-related, neurological, or psychiatric conditions.
How similar studies have gone: Previous human intracranial EEG studies have successfully used local and network measures to study attention and brain networks, but this project combines multiple advanced metrics and more naturalistic tasks for a broader view.
Where this research is happening
-
Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psych Res
Orangeburg, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Knight, Robert Thomas — Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psych Res
- Study coordinator: Knight, Robert Thomas
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Understanding how brain activity changes may drive Alzheimer’s disease progression in a mouse model
Researchers are testing how changes in brain signals and protein cleanup processes affect the development of Alzheimer’s disease in mice.
-
Addressing racial disparities in opioid overdose deaths using open source peer recovery coaching and AI-powered mobile health
A small, open-source program uses AI-powered texting and peer recovery coaching to help Black and Latinx people who use opioids access support and stay in treatment, aiming to reduce overdose deaths and close gaps in care.
-
Hyperexcitability in Alzheimer's Disease and how it affects brain signals
Aimed at people with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia, this grant studies abnormal brain activity that happens early in the disease and tests whether stopping it can help cognition and amyloid buildup.
-
Understanding how a brain visual pathway linked to social cues goes wrong in schizophrenia
Aiming to map and understand how a special brain visual pathway that helps read social cues may be disrupted in people with schizophrenia, to identify potential targets for future treatments.
-
Circuits for detecting surprising events in V1 (visual cortex)
This grant studies how the brain automatically notices unexpected visual events, focusing on autism-related brain processing, to understand how people with autism may experience and react to their surroundings.
-
CB1 signaling and alcohol effects in development
This project studies how alcohol exposure before birth changes brain signaling and behavior later in life, with a focus on CB1 receptors in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.