Transcranial alternating current stimulation: a review of the underlying mechanisms and modulation of cognitive processes

Herrmann, Christoph S.; Rach, Stefan; Neuling, Toralf; Strüber, Daniel

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00279

Cited by 676 publications

(592 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…If modulation of physiological processes results in functional alterations, a causal relationship can be assumed. In the last years, a couple of such stimulation protocols have become available, allowing non-invasive modulation of brain activity and excitability, and thus are principally suited to serve this aim [12][13][14][15] . In this review, we give an overview of the principal mechanisms of the tools, and their applications for the exploration of prefrontal functions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring prefrontal cortex functions in healthy humans by transcranial electrical stimulation

Kuo

Nitsche²

2015

Neurosci. Bull.

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The prefrontal cortex is involved in a multitude of cognitive, emotional, motivational, and social processes, so exploring its specifi c functions is crucial for understanding human experience and behavior. Functional imaging approaches have largely contributed to the enhancement of our understanding, but might have limitations in establishing causal relationships between physiology and the related psychological and behavioral processes. Non-invasive electrical stimulation with direct or alternating currents can help to enhance our understanding with regard to specific processes, and might provide future protocols able to improve them in case of malfunctions. We review the current state of the fi eld, and provide an outlook for future developments.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring prefrontal cortex functions in healthy humans by transcranial electrical stimulation

Kuo

Nitsche²

2015

Neurosci. Bull.

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“…Studies sometimes make such implicit assumptions, but the field is lacking a fundamental insight to accept or modify such assumptions. Encouraging advances have been made on this end for TMS (Thut & Miniussi, 2009;Thut & Pascual-Leone, 2009;Vernet et al, 2013), transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS; Fröhlich & McCormick, 2010;Herrmann, Rach, Neuling, & Strüber, 2013), and direct brain stimulation (Logothetis et al, 2010;Tolias et al, 2005). For example, Vernet et al(2013) used a combined TMS-EEG approach to evaluate the cortical effects of continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS).…”

Section: The Road Ahead: Additional Considerations Regarding Direct Vmentioning

confidence: 99%

A network approach for modulating memory processes via direct and indirect brain stimulation: Toward a causal approach for the neural basis of memory

Kim¹,

Ekstrom

Tandon³

2016

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

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A network approach for modulating memory processes via direct and indirect brain stimulation: Toward a causal approach for the neural basis of memory This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. that disrupting frontal or parietal regions also impairs memory performance, suggesting that these regions also play necessary roles in declarative memory. On the other hand, a handful of both invasive and non-invasive studies have also suggested modest improvements in memory performance following stimulation. These studies typically target brain regions connected to the hippocampus or other memory "hubs," which may affect endogenous activity in connected areas like the hippocampus, suggesting that to augment declarative memory, altering the broader endogenous memory network activity is critical. Together, studies reporting memory improvements / impairments are consistent with the idea that a network of distinct brain "hubs" may be crucial for successful memory encoding and retrieval rather than a single primary hub such as the hippocampus. Thus, it is important to consider neurostimulation from the network perspective, rather than from a purely localizationalist viewpoint. We conclude by proposing a novel approach to neurostimulation for declarative memory modulation that aims to facilitate interactions between multiple brain "nodes" underlying memory rather than considering individual brain regions in isolation.

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“…This method, known as transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), effectively injects an oscillatory current into the brain that might entrain endogenous neural oscillations (Herrmann et al 2013). As oscillations play an important role in cognitive processes (Buzsáki and Draguhn 2004;Siegel and Donner 2010), including attention (Buschman and Miller 2007;Womelsdorf and Fries 2007), tACS may offer a more specific means to affect attention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transcranial Electrical Stimulation as a Tool to Enhance Attention

et al. 2017

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Attention is a fundamental cognitive process-without it, we would be helplessly adrift in an overload of sensory input. There is considerable interest in techniques that can be used to enhance attention, including transcranial electrical stimulation (tES). We present an overview of 52 studies that have paired attention tasks with tES, mostly in the form of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). In particular, we discuss four aspects of attention that have been most extensively targeted to date: visual search, spatial orienting (e.g., Posner cueing tasks), spatial bias (e.g., line bisection tasks), and sustained attention. Some promising results have been reported in each of these domains. However, drawing general conclusions about the efficacy of tES is at present hampered by a large diversity in study design and inconsistent findings. We highlight some pitfalls and opportunities and suggest how these may be addressed in future research aiming to use tES as a tool to enhance or test theoretical hypotheses about attention.

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Transcranial alternating current stimulation: a review of the underlying mechanisms and modulation of cognitive processes

Cited by 676 publications

References 72 publications

Exploring prefrontal cortex functions in healthy humans by transcranial electrical stimulation

Exploring prefrontal cortex functions in healthy humans by transcranial electrical stimulation

A network approach for modulating memory processes via direct and indirect brain stimulation: Toward a causal approach for the neural basis of memory

Transcranial Electrical Stimulation as a Tool to Enhance Attention

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