Modulating Applied Task Performance via Transcranial Electrical Stimulation

Abstract

Basic and applied research are increasingly adopting transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) for modulating perceptual, cognitive, affective, and motor processes. Industry and defense applications of tES hold potential for accelerating training and knowledge acquisition and sustaining work-related performance in the face of fatigue, workload, and stress. This mini-review article describes the promises and perils of tES, and reviews research testing its influence on two broad applied areas: sustaining and dividing attention, and operating in virtual environments. Also included is a discussion of challenges related to viable mechanistic explanations for tES effectiveness, attempts at replication and consideration of null results, and the potential importance of individual differences in predicting tES influences on human performance. Finally, future research directions are proposed to address these challenges and help develop a fuller understanding of tES viability for enhancing real-world performance.

Methods for eliciting and measuring behavioral and physiological consequences of stress and uncertainty in virtual reality

“…On the other hand, tasks that are more demanding of executive processes, memory retrieval, and prefrontal cortical function tend to be adversely influenced by stress (Arnsten, 1998;2009;Cerqueira et al, 2007), especially when that stress is moderate to high intensity (Shields et al, 2015;2016;. Perhaps due to high glucocorticoid receptor density in the hippocampus and/ or the inherent complexity of allocentric spatial processing, spatial memory and orienting appear to be particularly impaired by moderate to high stress (Luine et al, 1994;McEwen, 2007;Schwabe et al, 2007;Richardson and VanderKaay Tomasulo, 2011;Olver et al, 2015;Brunyé et al, 2016;Gagnon and Wagner, 2016;Brunyé et al, 2019a). Given the relevance of spatial processing to military operations (i.e., during route planning and navigation), we decided to incorporate a spatial orienting and distance estimation task in the DeMUS scenario.…”

Combined and Isolated Effects of Acute Exercise and Brain Stimulation on Executive Function in Healthy Young Adults

“…Transcranial direct current stimulation is a non-invasive brain stimulation tool that has generated recent interest as a means to improve cognition by modulating the activity of supporting brain regions [28,29]. The leading mechanistic explanation of tDCS-mediated changes in cognitive performance is that the electric field-produced by a low-voltage current that is applied through electrodes placed on the surface of the head-alters the resting membrane potential of neurons in targeted brain regions, like the lateral prefrontal cortex for EF [8,30,31].…”

The effects of bifrontal anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on sleepiness and vigilance in partially sleep‐deprived subjects: A multidimensional study

“…Several protocols have been implemented for using tES to promote sleep propensity and accelerate the sleep-onset process (D'Atri et al, 2015;D'Atri et al, 2016;D'Atri et al, 2017D'Atri et al, , 2019Kirov et al, 2009;Xie et al, 2021). A complementary line of research tried to investigate the effectiveness of tES as a countermeasure for excessive sleepiness and vigilance decrement (Brunyé et al, 2019). In pioneering studies, the application of anodal tDCS targeting specific areas of the prefrontal cortex was able to prevent the typical vigilance reduction across time-on-task (Nelson et al, 2014) and to mitigate sleep-deprivation-induced vigilance drop more efficiently than caffeine (McIntire et al, 2014).…”