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Working memory after and during 6 Hz transcranial alternating current stimulation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

Y. Pavlov ,
D. Kasanov  and
O. Dorogina
Y. Pavlov*
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychology, Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation Institute Of Medical Psychology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany
D. Kasanov
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychology, Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation
O. Dorogina
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychology, Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique allowing to induce changes in oscillatory activity. Theta activity has been reported to play a major role in maintenance of information in working memory (WM).

Objectives

The current study had the initial goal to check the effect of theta tACS on accuracy and resting state EEG in a set of match-to-sample WM tasks.

Methods

In the first experiment, we tested 31 participants in the WM task after 20-min tACS applied at Fpz and CPz at 6 Hz, 1 mA.). In the second experiment, we compared the after-effects and online effects of the stimulation in a sample of 25 individuals. Five similar 25-min blocks filled with the same working memory task were distributed over 3 days. We assessed the same group of participants in all three sessions. On the Training day, the participants performed one block without stimulation. On the Sham-Verum day (SV), the first block with Sham stimulation followed by the second block with Verum stimulation. On the Verum-Sham day (VS), the blocks order reversed.

Results

After-effects of the stimulation did not produce any significant changes either in behavior (accuracy in the task) or resting-state EEG (theta frequency band spectral power in the first experiment. In the second experiment, 6 Hz tACS delivered before the WM task was not able to produce any observable changes in working memory performance. The same hold true for online stimulation.

Conclusions

Theta frequency tACS applied to Fpz-CPz electrodes is not an efficient method to improve WM.

Keywords

Working memoryEEGtACS
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 64 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2021 , pp. S487 - S488
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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