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Cognitive function and brain activation before and after transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation in healthy adults: A concurrent tcVNS-fMRI study

Authors :
Han, Zhang
Zhiwei, Guo
Yun, Qu
Yu, Zhao
Yuxuan, Yang
Juan, Du
Chunlan, Yang
Source :
Frontiers in Psychology. 13
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
Frontiers Media SA, 2022.

Abstract

Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation, which involves the application of electrical currents to the cervical (tcVNS) or auricular (taVNS) branches of the vagus nerve, may be a potential treatment for improving cognitive dysfunction. taVNS may improve cognitive performance in healthy adults, and fewer studies have been performed on the effects of tcVNS on cognition in healthy subjects. We conducted a randomized, single-blind, crossover-controlled trial to investigate the effects of tcVNS stimulation on cognitive function and neural activity in the brains of healthy adults. This study provides support for further tcVNS studies for the treatment of cognitive impairment. Twenty-one participants were randomly divided into two groups, A and B. Group A received tcVNS first and then sham-tcVNS, while group B received the intervention in the reverse order, receiving sham stimulation first and then true stimulation. All subjects were required to perform cognitive function tests before and after receiving intervention, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed concurrently during the intervention. We hypothesized that tcVNS would have an effect on the cognitive performance of the subjects and alter the neural activity of the brain. The present study showed that tcVNS had beneficial effects on cognitive performance, mainly improving memory and language skills and attention. tcVNS intervention produced significant spontaneous neural activity in the calcarine gyrus, fusiform gyrus, lingual gyrus, and parahippocampal gyrus of the brain. Future tcVNS/fMRI trials will need to explore the effects of changes in stimulus parameters on the neural activity response of the brain.

Subjects

Subjects :
General Psychology

Details

ISSN :
16641078
Volume :
13
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Frontiers in Psychology
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....27adfd3aec9b81ec6e9c83aea24961fa
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1003411