Neuromodulation of inhibitory control using phase-lagged transcranial alternating current stimulation

초록

BackgroundTranscranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is a prominent non-invasive brain stimulation method for modulating neural oscillations and enhancing human cognitive function. This study aimed to investigate the effects of individualized theta tACS delivered in-phase and out-of-phase between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (lDLPFC) during inhibitory control performance.MethodsThe participants engaged in a Stroop task with phase-lagged theta tACS over individually optimized high-density electrode montages targeting the dACC and lDLPFC. We analyzed task performance, event-related potentials, and prestimulus electroencephalographic theta and alpha power.ResultsWe observed significantly reduced reaction times following out-of-phase tACS, accompanied by reduced frontocentral N1 and N2 amplitudes, enhanced parieto-occipital P1 amplitudes, and pronounced frontocentral late sustained potentials. Out-of-phase stimulation also resulted in significantly higher prestimulus frontocentral theta and alpha activity.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that out-of-phase theta tACS potently modulates top-down inhibitory control, supporting the feasibility of phase-lagged tACS to enhance inhibitory control performance.

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