JP7266873B2 - Brain activity stimulation system and brain activity stimulation device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD This disclosure relates to a brain activity stimulation system and a brain activity stimulation device, and more particularly to a brain activity stimulation system and a brain activity stimulation device that externally stimulate brain activity.

In sports, music performances, and the like, series movements that require continuous motion are performed. It is known that if there is tension (stress) in which failure in this series of exercises results in punishment (for example, losing in a sport), the same series of exercises as usual cannot be performed and performance deteriorates. It is known that even top-level athletes and musicians are unable to demonstrate their usual abilities due to tension (stress) in important scenes of competitions and competitions.

Conventionally, regarding performance deterioration due to tension, Non-Patent Document 1 considers simple motor tasks such as reaching movement and grasping force generation to be striatal activity that predicts large rewards.

Vikram S.Chib, ``Neural mechanisms underlying paradoxical performance for monetary incentives are driven by loss aversion.'', Neuron, 2012, VOLUME 74, ISSUE 3, p.582-594

However, Non-Patent Document 1 only studies brain activity related to simple movements such as reaching movement and generation of grasping force, and studies brain activity related to high-speed serial movements that are characteristic of sports and music performances. is not the subject of research. Also, in Non-Patent Document 1, research has been conducted to capture brain activity related to movement, but manipulation such as positively stimulating the brain activity has not been performed.

The present disclosure has been made to solve the above-described problems, and the purpose in a certain aspect is to improve the performance of a series exercise when performing a series exercise with added tension (stress) that is punished if it fails. It is an object of the present invention to provide a brain activity stimulating system and a brain activity stimulating device that suppress a decrease in

According to one embodiment, a brain activity stimulation system for externally stimulating brain activity, wherein the activity is located in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in the brain of a subject performing sequence movements under stress. is identified by functional nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, and external stimulation is applied to the location identified by the brain activity identification section to reduce activity in the dorsal area of the anterior cingulate cortex of the subject. and an external stimulator.

Preferably, the apparatus further includes a control unit including a storage unit that stores the location of brain activity identified for each subject by the brain activity identification unit.

Preferably, the position specified by the brain activity specifying unit is a predetermined range including at least the position [0, 36, 36] in the MNI standard coordinate system.

Preferably, the external stimulator externally applies magnetic stimulation to the location identified by the brain activity identifying unit by transcranial magnetic stimulation.

According to another embodiment, there is provided a brain activity stimulator for externally stimulating brain activity, comprising an applying unit for externally stimulating the subject's brain, and performing series exercise in a stressed state. a fixation portion for fixing the application portion to a location of activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in the subject 's brain so that stimulation can be applied to reduce activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex of the subject ; Prepare.

A brain activity stimulation system and a brain activity stimulation device according to an embodiment can suppress a decrease in performance when performing a series exercise under the added strain (stress) of being punished for failure.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a brain activity stimulation system according to Embodiment 1; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the appearance of a brain activity specifying unit according to Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining exercises performed by a subject in a brain activity identifying unit according to Embodiment 1; Fig. 3 is a graph showing the number of press errors for part-learners and single-learners in a test session; FIG. 4 is an MRI image showing brain activity of part-learners during a test session; FIG. 6 is a graph showing the correlation between the number of electrical stimulations and brain activity in the medial frontal lobe identified in FIG. 5; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the appearance of an external stimulation section according to Embodiment 1; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining an exercise performed by a subject using the external stimulation unit according to Embodiment 1; Fig. 10 is a graph showing the number of mispresses with and without magnetic stimulation during a test session; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the appearance of a brain activity stimulation device according to Embodiment 2;

<Embodiment 1>
The first embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The same or corresponding parts in the drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will not be repeated.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of brain activity stimulation system 100 according to Embodiment 1. As shown in FIG. A brain activity stimulation system 100 will be described with reference to FIG. The brain activity stimulation system 100 includes a brain activity identification unit 10 that identifies the location of brain activity by functional nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, an external stimulation unit 20 that externally stimulates the location of brain activity, and a brain activity identification unit 10. and a controller 30 that associates the external stimulator 20 with the external stimulator 20 .

The brain activity identifying unit 10 identifies, by functional nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, the brain activity of a subject who performs a series exercise under stress, which is punished for failure. Here, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) utilizes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to visualize hemodynamic responses associated with human brain activity. It is a method of In particular, functional nuclear magnetic resonance imaging detects differences in brain activity during sensory stimulation and cognitive task performance, and brain activity during rest and control task performance, to detect brain activation corresponding to the components of the brain function of interest. A region can be specified.

The external stimulation unit 20 externally stimulates the location of brain activity of the subject identified by the brain activity identification unit 10 . The stimulation given to the brain activity by the external stimulation unit 20 may be any stimulation such as magnetic stimulation, electric current stimulation, ultrasonic stimulation, or a combination of a plurality of stimulations. In the following description, it is assumed that the external stimulator 20 applies magnetic stimulation to brain activity using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a method of stimulating neurons in the brain by inducing weak electrical currents in brain tissue due to rapid changes in the magnetic field produced by electromagnets.

The control unit 30 is, for example, a computer, reads the location of brain activity of the subject identified by the brain activity identification unit 10, and controls the external stimulation unit 20 to apply stimulation to the location. The control unit 30 is communicably connected to the brain activity identifying unit 10 and the external stimulation unit 20, and the connection may be wired or wireless. Of course, the control unit 30 may be configured to associate the brain activity specifying unit 10 and the external stimulation unit 20, and may simply read out and display the location of the brain activity of the subject specified from the brain activity specifying unit 10. Alternatively, the external stimulation unit 20 may stimulate the position specified by the brain activity specifying unit 10 according to the display by the user. Furthermore, the brain activity stimulation system 100 may be composed of only the brain activity identification section 10 and the external stimulation section 20 without providing the control section 30 . In other words, the brain activity stimulation system 100 passes the location of brain activity specified by the brain activity specifying unit 10 directly or indirectly by the user to the external stimulation unit 20, and the external stimulation unit 20 stimulates the location. It can be system.

The control unit 30 includes a storage unit (not shown), and can store the brain activity position information of the subject identified by the brain activity identification unit 10 in the storage unit for each individual. In addition, when information for identifying an individual (for example, ID information) is input, the control unit 30 can read information on the position of brain activity of the corresponding individual from the storage unit and output the information. Of course, a storage unit may be provided in the brain activity specifying unit 10, and the location information of the brain activity of the subject specified by the brain activity specifying unit 10 may be stored in the storage unit for each individual.

In the brain activity stimulation system 100, the medial frontal lobe (particularly, the front The activity of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) is specified for each individual by the brain activity specifying unit 10 . Until now, the mechanism of the brain that causes the performance of sequential movements to decline when performing sequential movements in a state of added tension (stress) in which failure is punished has been unclear. Therefore, it was not possible to perform operations such as positively stimulating brain activity in order to suppress the performance deterioration of series movements. As a method for improving the performance of serial movement by positively stimulating brain activity, a method of stimulating brain activity by transcranial magnetic stimulation or the like is known as a countermeasure against depression and movement disorders.

In the brain activity stimulation system 100, based on the mechanism that the brain activity of the medial frontal lobe is involved as the cause of the deterioration of the performance of the series movement, the brain activity identifying unit 10 identifies the location of the brain activity of the medial frontal lobe that causes it. The position is specified for each individual, and the specified position is externally stimulated by the external stimulator 20. - 特許庁The brain activity stimulation system 100 provides external stimulation by the external stimulation unit 20, thereby eliminating brain activity in the medial frontal lobe that causes performance deterioration when performing series exercise under stress. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the performance deterioration of series exercise. Efficient use of such a brain activity stimulation system 100 is expected to have a wide range of applications, such as support for people who play sports and music performances, and support for training in sports and music performances.

Further, in the brain activity stimulation system 100, the control unit 30 can present the brain activity of the medial frontal lobe identified by the brain activity identification unit 10 to the subject. By presenting the brain activity of the medial frontal lobe to the subject, there is also a function to assist in reducing the activity, and the brain activity stimulation system 100 can be used in combination with stimulation such as transcranial magnetic stimulation to achieve a higher training effect. Obtainable. The brain activity stimulation system 100 supports people who perform sports and music performances, and also supports training for sports and music performances, thereby preventing them from being unable to demonstrate their abilities due to tension in sports competitions and music competitions. can be done.

Hereinafter, a specific description will be given of the process of identifying the brain activity position of the subject performing series exercise under stress by the brain activity identifying unit 10 . FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the appearance of the brain activity identifying unit 10 according to the first embodiment. The brain activity identifying unit 10 is a functional nuclear magnetic resonance imaging device (fMRI 11) as shown in FIG. The fMRI 11 is provided with a display monitor 12 and operation buttons 13 so that the exercise of the subject P can be evaluated. In FIG. 2, the display monitor 12 is shown on the lateral side of the inner surface of the fMRI 11 for drawing purposes, but the display monitor 12 is actually provided at a position where the subject P lying on his back can easily see it. The operation buttons 13 are provided with three buttons 13a to 13c corresponding to the index finger, middle finger and ring finger of the subject P's right hand. The subject P operates the operation buttons 13 as quickly as possible in accordance with the button operation instructions sequentially presented on the screen of the display monitor 12 without making any mistakes. In other words, the brain activity identifying unit 10 measures the brain activity by causing the subject P to perform the exercise of operating the operation button 13 in response to the button operation instruction.

Specifically, the exercise to be performed by the subject P will be described. 3A and 3B are schematic diagrams for explaining the exercise performed by the subject P in the brain activity identifying unit 10 according to Embodiment 1. FIG. The brain activity identifying unit 10 causes the subject P to repeatedly perform the exercise of "length 10" presented as the button operation instruction 10 times. “Length 10” exercise is presented to the instruction of button operation 10 times during the sequence time after the reset time (randomly determined from 5 seconds to 9 seconds) as shown in FIG. Repeat the set with time 20 times. The subject P selects and presses the indicated button from the three buttons 13a to 13c of the operation buttons 13 according to the button operation instruction presented during the exercise of "Length 10".

In the first embodiment, the subject P is a single-learner who repeats the exercise of "length 10", and the exercise of "length 10" is combined with the exercise of "length 6". We evaluated the performance of sequential movements by dividing them into part-learners who repeatedly performed exercises of length 10 after performing exercises divided into exercises of length 4″. Here, the exercise of "length 6" is presented to the subject P as an instruction to operate the button six times during the sequence time, and the exercise of "length 4" is presented to the subject P during the sequence time. 4 times to present the instruction of button operation. By dividing the exercise of "length 10" into the exercise of "length 6" and the exercise of "length 4", the subject P can be made to practice one exercise as a series exercise.

Therefore, the part-learners who practiced the “Length 10” exercise by dividing it into “Length 6” exercise and “Length 4” exercise as a sequential exercise, compared to the single-learners. Compared to learners), there are fewer mistakes in pressing the operation button 13, and the performance of series exercise is high. However, when a test session began in which the subject P was punished for pressing the operation button 13 late or making a mistake, the part-learners were more likely than the single-learners to As a result, the number of erroneous pushes of the operation button 13 increases, and the performance of series exercise deteriorates. Here, in the first embodiment, as a punishment given to the subject P, if the subject P presses the operation button 13 late or presses it wrongly, electrical stimulation is given from the electrode attached to the left arm. The applied electrical stimulation was set to a stimulation level that the subject P self-reported as being able to endure two times in a row and not being able to endure three times in a row. Therefore, the subject P will exercise in a stressed state that will be punished if he/she fails the test session.

At the beginning of the test session, part-learners who had performed well in practice had lower sequence motor performance and received more electrical stimulation than did single-learners. . FIG. 4 is a graph showing the number of press errors for part-learners and single-learners in a test session. As can be seen from FIG. 4, the performance of the part-learners' sequential movements decreased in the exercise under stress (test session). This indicates that part-learners reduce the performance of sequential movements due to tension. Investigating in more detail, the decline in performance of part-learners is due to the linking of two sequences of movements (movement of length 10, movement of length 6, and movement of length 4). movement and joints).

FIG. 5 is an MRI image showing brain activity of part-learners during a test session. FIG. 5(a) is a horizontal cross-sectional image of the subject P in the standing position, which is an axial cross-section. FIG. 5(b) is a cross-sectional image of the subject P in the standing position in the vertical direction, which is a sagittal section. When the test session is performed 20 times, fMRI 11 searches for brain activity that correlates with the delay in the operation time of the operation button 13 of the subject P at the joint of the two series movements. It was found that brain activity in the frontal lobe is correlated with the delay in operation time of the operation button 13 . In particular, brain activity in the medial frontal lobe is activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), and a predetermined range that includes at least the position of [0, 36, 36] in the MNI (Montreal Numerological Institute) standard coordinate system. was found to be active in

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the correlation between the number of electrical stimulations and brain activity in the medial frontal lobe identified in FIG. The horizontal axis of FIG. 6 indicates brain activity in the medial frontal lobe, and the vertical axis indicates the number of electrical stimulations. The circle shown in FIG. 6 indicates one of the part-learners. As can be seen from the graph in FIG. 6, the higher the brain activity in the medial frontal lobe identified in FIG. 5, the greater the number of electrical stimulations, indicating a positive correlation. This result suggests that the increase in brain activity in the medial frontal lobe is the cause of the decrease in performance when subject P performs a series of exercises under the added stress of being punished for failing. ing. In addition, as described above, the brain activity identifying unit 10 identifies the position of the brain activity of the subject P who performs the series exercise under stress, thereby determining the cause of the deterioration of the series exercise performance. It is possible to individually identify the location of brain activity in the medial frontal lobe. The brain activity identifying unit 10 performs the above exercise to identify the location of the brain activity in the medial frontal lobe that causes the deterioration of the performance of the series exercise. Brain activity in the medial frontal lobe responsible for poor performance may be localized.

Next, the process of externally applying a stimulus to the location of the brain activity of the subject P identified by the brain activity identification unit 10 by the external stimulation unit 20 will be specifically described. The external stimulator 20 is a brain activity stimulator that externally stimulates brain activity. In particular, in Embodiment 1, it is assumed that the external stimulator 20 is a transcranial magnetic stimulator that externally magnetically stimulates brain activity. explain. Of course, the external stimulator 20 may be a brain activity stimulator that externally applies current stimulation, ultrasonic stimulation, or the like to brain activity.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing the appearance of the external stimulation section 20 according to the first embodiment. The external stimulation section 20 includes an excitation coil 21 (applying section) for applying magnetic stimulation to the brain of the subject P from the outside, and a fixing section 22 for fixing the excitation coil 21 . For the excitation coil 21, a double-cone coil that can stimulate a deep part of the brain of the subject P may be used.

The exciting coil 21 is electrically connected to a coil drive power source 21a via a cable. The coil drive power source 21a is connected to an external power source or the like and has a function of supplying electric power to the exciting coil 21 . The subject P is seated on a chair and has his/her head fixed by a guide member 22b extending from the fixing portion 22. As shown in FIG. The excitation coil 21 is arranged at a predetermined position on the scalp surface of the subject P fixed by the guide member 22b so that the position specified by the brain activity specifying unit 10 (specifically, the position of the medial frontal lobe) can be magnetically stimulated. do. The external stimulation unit 20 applies magnetic stimulation of a predetermined intensity to the nerves in the brain of the subject P from the excitation coil 21 arranged at a predetermined position, thereby stimulating the brain activity of the medial frontal lobe, which is the cause of the deterioration of the performance of series movements. Suppress.

The coil driving power source 21a controls the supply of current pulses to the excitation coil 21, and various existing types can be used. The operator can turn on/off the coil driving power supply 21a, and set the current pulse intensity and pulse waveform that determine the intensity and cycle of the magnetic stimulation.

In the first embodiment, the external stimulator 20 applies 1-Hz repetitive (for example, 300 pulses) magnetic stimulation to the medial frontal lobe, thereby reducing brain activity in the medial frontal lobe and suppressing performance deterioration in serial movements. can. The external stimulator 20 is applied to the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), in particular, to a predetermined range including at least the position [0, 36, 36] in the MNI standard coordinate system with a repetition of 1 Hz (eg, 300 pulses). Give magnetic stimulation. In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, a display monitor 23 and an operation button 24 are provided so that the motion of a subject P who has been subjected to magnetic stimulation to the medial frontal lobe by the external stimulator 20 can be evaluated. There is. The operation buttons 24 are provided with three buttons 24a to 24c corresponding to the index finger, middle finger and ring finger of the subject P's right hand. The subject P operates the operation buttons 24 as quickly as possible in accordance with the button operation instructions sequentially presented on the screen of the display monitor 23 without making any mistake.

Specifically, the exercise to be performed by the subject P will be described. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram for explaining the exercise performed by the subject P using the external stimulation section 20 according to the first embodiment. In the first embodiment, the subject P performs a plurality of exercises in which the exercise of "length 10" is divided into exercise of "length 6" and exercise of "length 4" as series exercise, and then, Repeat the exercise of "Length 10". “Length 10” exercise is the same as the content shown in FIG. The set of reset time and sequence time is repeated 20 times. The subject P selects and presses the indicated button from the three buttons 24a to 24c of the operation button 24 according to the button operation instruction presented during the exercise of "Length 10".

In the first embodiment, the subject P is divided into TMS part-learners (TMS part-learners) who externally receive magnetic stimulation for brain activity before the test session, and They are divided into SHAM part-learners, who do not receive external magnetic stimulation, and the performance of serial movements is evaluated. Here, the partial learners (SHAM part-learners) who do not give magnetic stimulation are the same conditions as the partial learners (TMS part-learners) who give magnetic stimulation (TMS part-learners) except that they do not give magnetic stimulation. The head is fixed by the guide member 22b indicated by , and the excitation coil 21 is arranged at a predetermined position.

When the test session in which the subject P is punished for slow or erroneous pressing of the operation button 24 begins, the TMS part-learners who apply the magnetic stimulation are allowed to perform partial learning without the magnetic stimulation. Compared to SHAM part-learners, the number of erroneous pushes of the operation button 24 is reduced, and deterioration in performance of series exercise can be suppressed.

FIG. 9 is a graph showing the number of mispresses with and without magnetic stimulation during a test session. As can be seen from Fig. 9, the TMS part-learners who gave the magnetic stimulus during the exercise (test session) in which tension (stress) was added in which they were punished if they failed Compared to SHAM part-learners, the decline in performance of sequential movements is suppressed. This indicates that external magnetic stimulation to the brain activity of the subject P prior to the test session does not impair the performance of the subject's P sequence movements. When examined in more detail, TMS part-learners given magnetic stimuli performed two sequences of movements (movement of length 10, movement of length 6 and movement of length 4). It is possible to reduce the brain activity of the medial frontal lobe that occurs in the movement and the joint of the movement), and it is possible to suppress the performance deterioration of the series movement. That is, the external stimulator 20 can reduce the brain activity of the medial frontal lobe of the subject P by applying magnetic stimulation to the position of the subject's P medial frontal lobe, thereby suppressing the performance degradation of the subject's P's serial movement.

In the brain activity stimulation system 100, the position of brain activity in the medial frontal lobe identified for each individual by the brain activity identifying unit 10 is stored in the memory unit of the control unit 30 or the memory unit of the brain activity identifying unit 10, and external stimulation is performed. Stimulation (for example, magnetic stimulation) is applied to the location of brain activity in the medial frontal lobe identified in section 20 . As a result, the brain activity stimulation system 100 can suppress the deterioration of the performance of the series exercise even in a state in which tension (stress) that is punished for failure is added. Furthermore, in the brain activity stimulation system 100, the state of brain activity in the medial frontal lobe identified by the brain activity identification unit 10 (output signal from the fMRI 11) is presented to the subject P while performing a series of exercises, thereby reducing tension (stress). It becomes possible to control the brain activity of the medial frontal lobe in the added state.

As described above, in the brain activity stimulation system 100 according to the first embodiment, the position of the brain activity of the subject P who performs the series exercise under stress is identified by the functional nuclear magnetic resonance imaging method. An activity specifying unit 10 and an external stimulation unit 20 for externally stimulating the location of the brain activity of the subject P specified by the brain activity specifying unit 10 are provided. As a result, in the brain activity stimulation system 100 according to the first embodiment, when the brain activity of the identified subject P is reduced by applying a stimulus from the outside and the series exercise is performed in a state where tension (stress) is added, However, the performance degradation can be suppressed.

The brain activity stimulation system 100 may further include a control section 30 including a storage section that stores the location of brain activity identified for each subject P by the brain activity identification section 10 . Thus, in the brain activity stimulation system 100 , external stimulation can be applied to a larger number of subjects P at the brain activity positions of the subjects P identified by the brain activity identifying unit 10 .

The position of the brain activity of the subject P identified by the brain activity identifying unit 10 is the specific position of the subject's P medial frontal lobe. In particular, the specific position of the medial frontal lobe is a predetermined range including at least the position [0, 36, 36] in the MNI standard coordinate system.

Moreover, it is preferable that the external stimulator 20 applies magnetic stimulation from the outside to the location of the brain activity of the subject P identified by the brain activity identifying unit 10 by the transcranial magnetic stimulation method. In particular, the external stimulation unit 20 preferably uses a double-cone coil as the excitation coil 21 to apply magnetic stimulation to the location of the brain activity of the subject P identified by the brain activity identification unit 10 .

Further, in the brain activity stimulation method for externally stimulating brain activity, the position of the brain activity of a subject P who performs a sequence exercise under stress in the brain activity identifying unit 10 is determined by functional nuclear magnetism. It includes a step of identifying by resonance imaging, and a step of externally stimulating the identified location of brain activity of the subject P with the external stimulator 20 . As a result, in the brain activity stimulation method, the brain activity of the identified subject P is reduced by applying a stimulus from the outside, and the decline in performance can be suppressed even when performing a series exercise in a state where tension (stress) is added. can be done.
<Embodiment 2>
In the first embodiment, the brain activity identifying unit 10 uses functional nuclear magnetic resonance imaging to identify, for each individual subject P, the location of brain activity in which sequence movements are performed under stress. However, localizing brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging is time consuming and costly. Therefore, in the present embodiment 2, utilizing the knowledge obtained in the present embodiment 1, functional nuclear magnetic resonance imaging is used for each individual subject P, and the brain that performs sequential movements under stress is examined. A brain activity stimulator that externally stimulates the already specified location of the medial frontal lobe without specifying the location of the activity will be described.

Specifically, in the first embodiment, stimulation (for example, magnetic stimulation) is applied to the medial frontal lobe of the subject P who performs series exercise in a stressed state to reduce the activity of the medial frontal lobe. In this way, we obtained the knowledge that it is possible to suppress the performance deterioration of series exercise. By stimulating the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), in particular, a predetermined range including at least the position [0, 36, 36] in the MNI standard coordinate system, the activity of the medial frontal lobe is reduced, and the sequence movement is reduced. performance degradation can be suppressed.

The brain activity stimulation device according to Embodiment 2 is a device capable of stimulating the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), particularly the position [0, 36, 36] in the MNI standard coordinate system. . FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing the appearance of a brain activity stimulation device 20A according to the second embodiment. The stimulation given to the brain activity by the brain activity stimulation device 20A may be any stimulation such as magnetic stimulation, electric current stimulation, ultrasonic stimulation, or a combination of a plurality of stimulations. In the following description, the brain activity stimulator 20A is assumed to use transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to stimulate brain activity. Also, the brain activity stimulating device 20A is a device corresponding to the external stimulating section 20 shown in FIG. 7, and the same components will be described with the same reference numerals.

The brain activity stimulation device 20A includes an excitation coil 21 (applying section) for applying magnetic stimulation to the subject's P brain from the outside, and a fixing section 22 for fixing the excitation coil 21 . For the excitation coil 21, a double-cone coil that can stimulate a deep part of the brain of the subject P may be used.

The exciting coil 21 is electrically connected to a coil drive power source 21a via a cable. The coil drive power source 21a is connected to an external power source or the like and has a function of supplying electric power to the exciting coil 21 . The subject P is seated on a chair, and the head is fixed by the guide member 22b extending from the fixing part 22. As shown in FIG. An excitation coil is placed at a predetermined position on the scalp surface of the subject P fixed by the guide member 22b so that magnetic stimulation can be applied to the position [0, 36, 36] in the MNI standard coordinate system on the head of the subject P. 21 is placed. Here, the position of [0, 36, 36] in the MNI standard coordinate system in the head of the subject P is, for example, the coordinate system in the head of the subject P and the MNI standard It is specified by matching with the coordinate system. That is, the actual position on the subject P's head is identified from the MNI standard coordinates.

The brain activity stimulation device 20A applies magnetic stimulation of a predetermined intensity to the nerves in the brain of the subject P from the excitation coil 21 arranged at a predetermined position, thereby stimulating brain activity in the medial frontal lobe that causes deterioration in performance of series movements. to suppress

The brain activity stimulation device 20A uses functional nuclear magnetic resonance imaging for each individual to identify the location of brain activity that performs series movements under stress with higher accuracy, the responsible part of the medial frontal lobe ( [0, 36, 36] position in the MNI standard coordinate system). However, if high accuracy is not required, the responsible part of the medial frontal lobe (the position of [0, 36, 36] in the MNI standard coordinate system) is specified from known information, and the brain activity stimulator 20A performs functional nuclear magnetic Magnetic stimulation may be applied to the area responsible for the medial frontal lobe without using resonance imaging. The fixing portion 22 may be a cap inside which the exciting coil 21 is attached instead of the column supporting the exciting coil 21 as shown in FIG. When the subject P wears the cap correctly, the exciting coil 21 can be automatically arranged at a position where the magnetic stimulation can be applied to the responsible part of the medial frontal lobe.

As described above, in the brain activity stimulating device 20A according to the second embodiment, the excitation coil 21 that externally stimulates the brain of the subject P and the brain activity of the subject P performing series exercise under stress. and a fixing portion 22 for fixing the exciting coil 21 so that stimulation can be applied. As a result, in the brain activity stimulating device 20A according to the second embodiment, the brain activity of the identified subject P is reduced by applying external stimulation, and when the series exercise is performed in a state where tension (stress) is added, However, the performance degradation can be suppressed.

In addition, the position of the subject's P brain activity is a specific position of the subject's P medial frontal lobe. In particular, the specific position of the medial frontal lobe is a predetermined range including at least the position [0, 36, 36] in the MNI standard coordinate system.

Moreover, it is preferable that the excitation coil 21 gives magnetic stimulation to the brain activity position of the subject P from the outside by the transcranial magnetic stimulation method. In particular, the excitation coil 21 preferably uses a biconical coil to apply magnetic stimulation to the location of the subject's P brain activity.

It should be considered that the embodiments disclosed this time are illustrative in all respects and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is indicated by the scope of the claims rather than the above description, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and range of equivalents of the scope of the claims.

10 Brain Activity Identification Unit 12, 23 Display Monitor 13, 24 Operation Button 20 External Stimulator 20A Brain Activity Stimulator 21 Exciting Coil 21a Coil Drive Power Supply 22 Fixing Unit 22b Guide Member 30 Control Unit 100 Brain Activity Stimulation System.

Claims (5)

A brain activity stimulation system for externally stimulating brain activity,
a brain activity identifying unit that identifies, by functional nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, the location of activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in the brain of a subject performing sequence exercise under stress;
a brain activity stimulation system, comprising: an external stimulator for externally stimulating the position identified by the brain activity identifying section in order to reduce activity in the dorsal region of the anterior cingulate cortex of the subject . 2. The brain activity stimulation system according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit including a storage unit that stores the location of the brain activity identified for each subject by the brain activity identification unit. 3. The brain activity stimulation system according to claim 1 , wherein the position specified by said brain activity specifying unit is a predetermined range including at least the position [0, 36, 36] in the MNI standard coordinate system. The brain activity stimulator according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the external stimulator externally applies magnetic stimulation to the position identified by the brain activity identifying section by transcranial magnetic stimulation. system. A brain activity stimulation device for externally stimulating brain activity,
an applying unit that applies stimulation to the subject's brain from the outside;
A location in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in the brain of the subject performing sequence movement under stress can be stimulated to reduce activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex of the subject. and a fixing section that fixes the applying section in a manner such that the brain activity stimulator is provided with a fixing section.

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