As a researcher, I study how our brain’s wiring shapes our thoughts and feelings, with a special interest in the mind-body connection. I believe that to truly understand mental processes, we need to consider the person as a whole, including their body and social context, rather than only focusing on detached cognitive processes. Using the holistic biopsychosocial model, I draw on insights from neuroscience and psychology to understand neurological conditions and develop new therapies for people whose brains work differently.

Below is a list of my main scientific works (out of 28 articles), with a plain language explanation of what and why we did. The full list can be found on Google Scholar.

📖 Age-Related Changes of Interoceptive Brain Networks: Implications for Interoception and Alexithymia

Dobrushina, O. R., Dobrynina, L. A., Arina, G. A., et al. (2024). Emotion. doi: 10.1037/emo0001366

As people age, they might experience changes in how they process emotions, including a condition called alexithymia, which makes it hard to identify and describe emotions. Alexithymia is linked to depression and several physical health disorders, including hypertension and myocardial infarction. In this work, we have shown that age-related alexithymia is related to difficulties in sensing the body (interoception) and to functional alterations in the brain areas responsible for interoception. Thus, we suppose that practices supporting mind-body connection might help older adults stay mentally and physically healthy.

📖 Interoceptive Training with Real-Time Haptic vs. Visual Heartbeat Feedback

Dobrushina, O., Tamim, Y., Wald, I. Y., Maimon, A., & Amedi, A. (2024). BioRxiv. doi: 10.1101/2024.01.12.575196

This paper, currently under review, describes my developments in mental healthcare technology. We invented a device helping people to attune to their bodies, recognising the heartbeats. This is a novel modification of biofeedback—a system providing one with instant information about their bodily state. In our case, we placed a vibration device on the chest paired with ECG recording of the heart activity, to supplement the natural heartbeat sensations with a gentle vibration, thus amplifying them. The study has shown that such naturalistic feedback outperforms the traditional approach to training interoception.

📖 Sensory Integration in Interoception: Interplay between Top-down and Bottom-up Processing

Dobrushina, O. R., Arina, G.A., Dobrynina, L.A., et al. (2021). Cortex. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.08.009

This more fundamental work addresses how body perception is organised in the brain. We mapped out the neural networks supporting the so-called top-down and bottom-up processing of the bodily states. Top-down refers to our predictions about what might happen in the body, while bottom-up reflects orientation on the incoming sensory information rather than on ideas about what might be happening. The balance between these two processes allows accurate perception of the body, i.e. effective interoception, which is a cornerstone of mental wellbeing.

📖 The Ability to Understand Emotions is Associated with Interoception‐related Insular Activation and White Matter Integrity during Ageing

Dobrushina, O. R., Arina, G.A., Dobrynina, L.A., et al. (2020). Psychophysiology. doi: 10.1111/psyp.13537

The study addresses the problem of small vessel disease (SVD)—a major cause of age-related cognitive decline. We have shown that early signs of SVD are more prevalent in people who have difficulties understanding their emotions, which is, in turn, related to lower activation of the insular cortex while attempting to listen to the body. This work has started our exploration of the importance of the mind-body connection for the mental wellbeing of older adults.

📖 Modulation of Intrinsic Brain Connectivity by Implicit Electroencephalographic Neurofeedback

Dobrushina, O. R., Vlasova, R. M., Rumshiskaya, A. D., et al. (2020). Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00192

In this study, we have shown that infra-low frequency neurofeedback, a noninvasive technique used to enhance cognitive and emotional, shows a strong influence on brain networks. The sham-controlled design allowed us to claim that the brain changes observed were indeed related to the effect of neurofeedback. This popular article was viewed and downloaded over 9500 times, which corresponds to 89% view rank of all Frontiers articles. It was referenced in four books on neurotechnology and called “an important milestone in the understanding of Neurofeedback” by industry leaders.