Abstract:
Non-invasive transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has attracted increasing interest as a neurostimulation tool with potential applications in modulating cognitive processes such as attention and memory, possibly through the modulation of the locus-coeruleus noradrenaline system. Studies examining the P300 brain-related component as a correlate of noradrenergic activity, however, have yielded inconsistent findings, possibly due to differences in stimulation parameters, thus necessitating further investigation. In this event-related potential study involving 61 participants, therefore, we examined how changes in taVNS parameters, specifically stimulation type (interval vs. continuous stimulation) and duration, influence P300 amplitudes during a visual novelty oddball task. Although no effects of stimulation were found over the whole cluster and time window of the P300, cluster-based permutation tests revealed a distinct impact of taVNS on the P300 response for a small electrode cluster, characterized by larger amplitudes observed for easy targets (i.e., stimuli that are easily discernible from standards) following taVNS compared to sham stimulation. Notably, our findings suggested that the type of stimulation significantly modulated taVNS effects on the P300, with continuous stimulation showing larger P300 differences (taVNS vs. sham) for hard targets and standards compared to interval stimulation. We observed no interaction effects of stimulation duration on the target-related P300. While our findings align with previous research, further investigation is warranted to fully elucidate the influence of taVNS on the P300 component and its potential utility as a reliable marker for neuromodulation in this field.
摘要:
非侵入性经皮耳迷走神经刺激(taVNS)作为一种神经刺激工具,在调节注意力和记忆等认知过程中具有潜在应用,引起了越来越多的兴趣。可能是通过调节蓝斑去甲肾上腺素系统。研究检查P300大脑相关成分与去甲肾上腺素能活动的相关性,然而,产生了不一致的发现,可能是由于刺激参数的差异,因此需要进一步调查。在这项涉及61名参与者的事件相关潜在研究中,因此,我们检查了taVNS参数的变化,特别是刺激类型(间隔与连续刺激)和持续时间,在视觉新奇怪球任务中影响P300振幅。尽管在P300的整个簇和时间窗口中没有发现刺激的影响,但基于簇的置换测试显示,taVNS对小电极簇的P300反应有明显的影响。以观察到的容易目标的较大振幅为特征(即,与假刺激相比,taVNS后容易从标准品辨别的刺激)。值得注意的是,我们的研究结果表明,刺激类型显着调节taVNS对P300的影响,连续刺激显示更大的P300差异(taVNSvs.假)与间隔刺激相比的硬目标和标准。我们没有观察到刺激持续时间对靶相关P300的交互作用。虽然我们的发现与之前的研究一致,需要进一步研究才能充分阐明taVNS对P300成分的影响及其作为该领域神经调节可靠标志物的潜在效用.