Findings, limitations and new directions in tACS studies in schizophrenia research: A scoping review

Farcas, Adriana; Iftene, Felicia

doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.04.036

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Non-invasive modulation of brain activity within areas devoted to visual perception and the construction of representations from sensory inputs might represent a valuable therapeutic avenue to reduce abnormal perceptual phenomena. Givent tACS potentiality to induce durable modifications suited for clinical applications (as shown in the current study) 133 , future research should pursue the objective of developing “pareidolia-reducing” protocols for patients exhibiting susceptibility to hallucinatory phenomena. Indeed, illusory experiences exert a detrimental impact on patients’ ability to engage in work, leisure, and self-care tasks 38 , 134 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Face pareidolia is enhanced by 40 Hz transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) of the face perception network

Palmisano

Chiarantoni

Bossi

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Pareidolia refers to the perception of ambiguous sensory patterns as carrying a specific meaning. In its most common form, pareidolia involves human-like facial features, where random objects or patterns are illusionary recognized as faces. The current study investigated the neurophysiological correlates of face pareidolia via transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). tACS was delivered at gamma (40 Hz) frequency over critical nodes of the “face perception” network (i.e., right lateral occipito-temporal and left prefrontal cortex) of 75 healthy participants while completing four face perception tasks (‘Mooney test’ for faces, ‘Toast test’, ‘Noise pareidolia test’, ‘Pareidolia task’) and an object perception task (‘Mooney test’ for objects). In this single-blind, sham-controlled between-subjects study, participants received 35 min of either Sham, Online, (40Hz-tACS_ON), or Offline (40Hz-tACS_PRE) stimulation. Results showed that face pareidolia was causally enhanced by 40Hz-tACS_PRE in the Mooney test for faces in which, as compared to sham, participants more often misperceived scrambled stimuli as faces. In addition, as compared to sham, participants receiving 40Hz-tACS_PRE showed similar reaction times (RTs) when perceiving illusory faces and correctly recognizing noise stimuli in the Toast test, thus not exhibiting hesitancy in identifying faces where there were none. Also, 40Hz-tACS_ON induced slower rejections of face pareidolia responses in the Noise pareidolia test. The current study indicates that 40 Hz tACS can enhance pareidolic illusions in healthy individuals and, thus, that high frequency (i.e., gamma band) oscillations are critical in forming coherent and meaningful visual perception.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Face pareidolia is enhanced by 40 Hz transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) of the face perception network

Palmisano

Chiarantoni

Bossi

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…For example, tDCS was effective and safe in ameliorating negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia [ 49 ]. A recent review revealed that tACS was also a safe and effective strategy in improving neurocognitive function of patients with schizophrenia [ 50 ]. However, there have been no head-to-head studies comparing the safety of iTBS either with tDCS or tACS for older patients with schizophrenia.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systematic Review of Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation for Neurocognitive Dysfunction in Older Adults with Schizophrenia

Zhang

Yang

Shi

et al. 2023

JPM

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Objective: Neurocognitive dysfunction is thought to be one of the core clinical features of schizophrenia, and older adults with schizophrenia exhibited greater overall cognitive deficits than younger adults. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the neurocognitive effects of intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) as an adjunctive treatment for older adults suffering from schizophrenia. Methods: Randomized double-blinded controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the neurocognitive effects of adjunctive active iTBS versus sham iTBS in older adults with schizophrenia were systematically identified by independent investigators searching Chinese and English databases. Results: Two double-blinded RCTs (n = 132) compared the neurocognitive effects of adjunctive active iTBS (n = 66) versus sham iTBS (n = 66) in patients that fulfilled the inclusion criteria of this systematic review and were analyzed. One RCT found significant superiority of active iTBS over sham iTBS in improving neurocognitive performance in older adults with schizophrenia. In the other RCT, the findings on the neurocognitive effects of iTBS as measured by three different measurement tools were inconsistent. The dropout rate was reported in the two RCTs, ranging from 3.8% (3/80) to 7.7% (4/52). Conclusion: There is preliminary evidence that adjunctive iTBS may have some beneficial effects in the treatment of neurocognitive function in older patients with schizophrenia. Future RCTs with larger sample sizes focusing on the neurocognitive effects of adjunctive iTBS in older adults with schizophrenia are warranted to verify these findings.

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“…Specifically, noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS), such as transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), can be used to directly target these specific neural oscillatory features by entraining endogenous oscillations to match the exogenous stimulation to increase oscillatory amplitude, phase timing consistency, and cross-frequency and inter-regional coordination [19,48,49]. There is evidence that tACS can facilitate neuroplasticity [50][51][52], and emerging findings on its effects on improving symptoms and cognition in SZ have been encouraging [53]. Future studies should investigate whether, and to what extent, tACS targeting different aspects of theta activity may improve executive function in SZ.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attenuated theta-band activity and cross-frequency coupling in schizophrenia during affective response inhibition

Kraft,

Suzuki,

Menkes

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Background: Individuals with Schizophrenia (SZ) display impaired cognitive control, including trouble inhibiting context-inappropriate responses; however, the underlying neural mechanisms remain understudied and unclear. The current study examined the role of theta-band (4-7 Hz) neural oscillatory activity and cross-frequency coupling with gamma (30-50 Hz) activity in an affective cognitive control paradigm in SZ in comparison with healthy controls (HC) and those with bipolar disorder (BD). Methods: Thirty-seven participants with SZ, 67 with BD, and 48 HC completed an affective Go/No-Go Task with emotional face stimuli during electroencephalography (EEG) recording. Time-frequency decomposition was used to extract theta-band power and intertrial phase consistency (ITPC) over midline fronto-central areas. The Kullback-Leibler Modulation Index was used to index theta-gamma phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) within the midline frontal area as well as between midline frontal theta and bilateral parietal gamma regions. Results: Participants with SZ displayed decreased midline frontal theta power, ITPC, and theta-gamma PAC compared to HC, with BD falling in between SZ and HC groups across all these measures. Theta power, ITPC, and theta-gamma PAC were correlated with behavioral performance in various ways, particularly in the SZ group. Conclusions: Collectively, these findings show abnormalities across the amplitude, phase consistency, and cross-frequency coordination aspects of theta-related activity when individuals with SZ engage in affective cognitive control. Implications for their contribution to functional impairment and directions for treatment are discussed.

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Findings, limitations and new directions in tACS studies in schizophrenia research: A scoping review

Cited by 5 publications

References 46 publications

Face pareidolia is enhanced by 40 Hz transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) of the face perception network

Face pareidolia is enhanced by 40 Hz transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) of the face perception network

A Systematic Review of Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation for Neurocognitive Dysfunction in Older Adults with Schizophrenia

Attenuated theta-band activity and cross-frequency coupling in schizophrenia during affective response inhibition

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