Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rovereto, Italy.
University of California, San Diego.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2018 May;30(5):656-666. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_01235. Epub 2018 Jan 11.
This study explored the modulatory effects of high-frequency transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) on visual sensitivity during a temporal attention task. We measured sensitivity to different onset asynchronies during a temporal order judgment task as a function of active stimulation relative to sham. While completing the task, participants were stimulated bilaterally for 20 min over either the TPJ or the human middle temporal area. We hypothesized that tRNS over the TPJ, which is critical to the temporal attention network, would selectively increase cortical excitability and induce cognitive training-like effects on performance, perhaps more so in the left visual field [Matthews, N., & Welch, L. Left visual field attentional advantage in judging simultaneity and temporal order. Journal of Vision, 15, 1-13, 2015; Romanska, A., Rezlescu, C., Susilo, T., Duchaine, B., & Banissy, M. J. High-frequency transcranial random noise stimulation enhances perception of facial identity. Cerebral Cortex, 25, 4334-4340, 2015]. In Experiment 1, we measured the performance of participants who judged the order of Gabors temporally imbedded in flickering discs, presented with onset asynchronies ranging from -75 msec (left disc first) to +75 msec (right disc first). In Experiment 2, we measured whether each participant's temporal sensitivity increased with stimulation by using temporal offsets that the participant initially perceived as simultaneous. We found that parietal cortex stimulation temporarily increased sensitivity on the temporal order judgment task, especially in the left visual field. Stimulation over human middle temporal area did not alter cortical excitability in a way that affected performance. The effects were cumulative across blocks of trials for tRNS over parietal cortex but dissipated when stimulation ended. We conclude that single-session tRNS can induce temporary improvements in behavioral sensitivity and that this shows promising insight into the relationship between cortical stimulation and neural plasticity.
本研究探讨了高频经颅随机噪声刺激（tRNS）在时间注意任务中对视觉敏感性的调节作用。我们测量了在时间顺序判断任务中对不同起始异步的敏感性，作为相对于假刺激的函数。在完成任务时，参与者在双侧颞顶叶区（TPJ）或人类颞中区接受 20 分钟的刺激。我们假设，TPJ 上的 tRNS 对时间注意网络至关重要，将选择性地增加皮质兴奋性，并对性能产生类似认知训练的影响，在左视野中可能更为明显[Matthews，N.，& Welch，L. 在判断同时性和时间顺序时左视野注意力优势。《视觉杂志》，15，1-13，2015 年；Romanska，A.，Rezlescu，C.，Susilo，T.，Duchaine，B.，&Banissy，M. J. 高频经颅随机噪声刺激增强了对面部身份的感知。《大脑皮层》，25，4334-4340，2015 年]。在实验 1 中，我们测量了判断在闪烁圆盘内时间嵌入的 Gabors 顺序的参与者的表现，呈现的起始异步范围为-75 毫秒（左盘先）至+75 毫秒（右盘先）。在实验 2 中，我们测量了每个参与者的时间敏感性是否随着刺激而增加，方法是使用参与者最初感知为同时的时间偏移。我们发现，顶叶皮层刺激暂时增加了时间顺序判断任务的敏感性，特别是在左视野中。人类颞中区的刺激并没有以影响性能的方式改变皮质兴奋性。对于顶叶皮层上的 tRNS，这种效应在整个试验块中是累积的，但当刺激结束时就会消散。我们的结论是，单次 tRNS 可以诱导行为敏感性的暂时提高，这为皮质刺激与神经可塑性之间的关系提供了有希望的见解。
