Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Dec 23:15:790793.
doi: 10.3389/fnins.2021.790793. eCollection 2021.

Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Improves Spatial Working Memory in Healthy Young Adults

Jin-Bo Sun  1   2 , Chen Cheng  2 , Qian-Qian Tian  1 , Hang Yuan  2 , Xue-Juan Yang  1   2 , Hui Deng  1   2 , Xiao-Yu Guo  1 , Ya-Peng Cui  1 , Meng-Kai Zhang  1 , Zi-Xin Yin  1 , Cong Wang  2 , Wei Qin  1   2
Affiliations

Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Improves Spatial Working Memory in Healthy Young Adults

Jin-Bo Sun et al. Front Neurosci. .

Abstract

Working memory (WM) is one of the core components of higher cognitive functions. There exists debate regarding the extent to which current techniques can enhance human WM capacity. Here, we examined the WM modulation effects of a previously less studied technique, transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS). In experiment 1, a within-subject study, we aimed to investigate whether and which stimulation protocols of taVNS can modulate spatial WM performance in healthy adults. Forty-eight participants performed baseline spatial n-back tasks (1, 3-back) and then received online taVNS, offline taVNS, or sham stimulation before or during (online group) the posttest of spatial n-back tasks in random order. Results showed that offline taVNS could significantly increase hits in spatial 3-back task, whereas no effect was found in online taVNS or sham group. No significant taVNS effects were found on correct rejections or reaction time of accurate trials (aRT) in both online and offline protocols. To replicate the results found in experiment 1 and further investigate the generalization effect of offline taVNS, we carried out experiment 2. Sixty participants were recruited and received offline taVNS or offline earlobe stimulation in random order between baseline and posttests of behavioral tests (spatial/digit 3-back tasks). Results replicated the findings; offline taVNS could improve hits but not correct rejections or aRT in spatial WM performance, which were found in experiment 1. However, there were no significant stimulation effects on digit 3-back task. Overall, the findings suggest that offline taVNS has potential on modulating WM performance.

Keywords: cognitive enhancement; n-back task; non-invasive neuromodulation; taVNS; working memory.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Overview of the study and n-back tasks: (A) the protocol of experiment 1; (B) the paradigm of spatial n-back tasks, changing the spatial stimuli by digits is the digit 3-back task; (C) the protocol of experiment 2.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The behavior outcomes of experiment 1. Task outcome changes (T1 - T0): (A) the change of accuracy rate for per condition in matching trials; (B) the change of accuracy rate for per condition in mismatching trials; (C) the change of mean reaction time of correct trials for per condition, and the quantities’ units were ms. One asterisk indicates a corrected p value less than 0.05.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The behavior outcomes of experiment 2. Task outcome changes (T1 - T0): (A) the change of accuracy rate for per condition in matching trials; (B) the change of accuracy rate for per condition in mismatching trials; (C) the change of mean reaction time of correct trials for per condition, and the quantities’ units were ms. One asterisk indicates a corrected p value less than 0.05, and two asterisks indicate a corrected p value less than 0.01.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Agostoni E., Chinnock J. E., Daly M. D. B., Murray J. G. (1957). Functional and histological studies of the vagus nerve and its branches to the heart, lungs and abdominal viscera in the cat. J. Physiol. 135 182–205. 10.1113/JPHYSIOL.1957.SP005703 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alicart H., Heldmann M., Göttlich M., Obst M. A., Tittgemeyer M., Münte T. F. (2020). Modulation of visual processing of food by transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS). Brain Imaging Behav. 15 1886–1897. 10.1007/S11682-020-00382-8 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Andrews S., Hoy K. E., Enticott P. G., Daskalakis Z. J., Fitzgerald P. B. (2011). Improving working memory: the effect of combining cognitive activity and anodal transcranial direct current stimulation to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Brain Stimul. 4 84–89. 10.1016/J.BRS.2010.06.004 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Arkan A. (2019). Effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on working memory in healthy people. Brain Stimul. 12 385–394. 10.1016/j.brs.2018.12.231 - DOI
    1. Assecondi S., Hu R., Eskes G., Pan X., Zhou J., Shapiro K. (2021). Impact of tDCS on working memory training is enhanced by strategy instructions in individuals with low working memory capacity. Sci. Rep. 11:5531. 10.1038/s41598-021-84298-3 - DOI - PMC - PubMed