Moretti Jessica, Marinovic Welber, Harvey Alan R, Rodger Jennifer, Visser Troy A W
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science, Perth, WA, Australia.
Front Neurosci. 2022 Jun 14;16:903977. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.903977. eCollection 2022.
Non-invasive brain stimulation is a growing field with potentially wide-ranging clinical and basic science applications due to its ability to transiently and safely change brain excitability. In this study we include two types of stimulation: repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). Single session stimulations with either technique have previously been reported to induce changes in attention. To better understand and compare the effectiveness of each technique and the basis of their effects on cognition we assessed changes to both temporal and visuospatial attention using an attentional blink task and a line bisection task following offline stimulation with an intermittent theta burst (iTBS) rTMS protocol or 10 Hz tACS. Additionally, we included a novel rTMS stimulation technique, low-intensity (LI-)rTMS, also using an iTBS protocol, which uses stimulation intensities an order of magnitude below conventional rTMS. Animal models show that low-intensity rTMS modulates cortical excitability despite sub-action potential threshold stimulation. Stimulation was delivered in healthy participants over the right posterior parietal cortex (rPPC) using a within-subjects design ( = 24). Analyses showed no evidence for an effect of any stimulation technique on spatial biases in the line bisection task or on magnitude of the attentional blink. Our results suggests that rTMS and LI-rTMS using iTBS protocol and 10 Hz tACS over rPPC do not modulate performance in tasks assessing visuospatial or temporal attention.
非侵入性脑刺激是一个不断发展的领域,由于其能够短暂且安全地改变大脑兴奋性,在临床和基础科学方面具有潜在的广泛应用。在本研究中,我们纳入了两种刺激类型:重复经颅磁刺激(rTMS)和经颅交流电刺激(tACS)。此前已有报道称,这两种技术的单次刺激均可引起注意力的变化。为了更好地理解和比较每种技术的有效性及其对认知产生影响的基础,我们在采用间歇性theta爆发(iTBS)rTMS方案或10Hz tACS进行离线刺激后,使用注意力瞬脱任务和直线二等分任务评估了时间和视觉空间注意力的变化。此外,我们还纳入了一种新的rTMS刺激技术,即低强度(LI-)rTMS,同样采用iTBS方案,其刺激强度比传统rTMS低一个数量级。动物模型显示,尽管刺激强度低于动作电位阈值,但低强度rTMS仍可调节皮质兴奋性。采用被试内设计(n = 24)对健康参与者右侧顶叶后皮质(rPPC)进行刺激。分析结果表明,没有证据显示任何刺激技术对线二等分任务中的空间偏差或注意力瞬脱的大小有影响。我们的结果表明,在rPPC上采用iTBS方案的rTMS和LI-rTMS以及10Hz tACS并不会调节评估视觉空间或时间注意力的任务表现。