P108. Effects of 10 Hz tACS on phonological language processing

Publication date: August 2018

Source: Clinical Neurophysiology, Volume 129, Issue 8

Author(s): T. Stenner, L. Sierau, M. Werchowski, S. Matern, C. Kaernbach, M. Siniatchkin, G. Hartwigsen, V. Moliadze

Introduction

A previous study (Hartwigsen et al., 2010) has shown that 10 Hz rTMS of the left or right posterior inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) impaired performance in a phonological decision-making task. However, it is unclear whether the neurodisruptive effect of 10 Hz-rTMS is caused by entrainment of alpha-oscillations. To address this issue, the present study investigated the following questions: (1) Are alpha-oscillations in the IFG functionally relevant for phonological processing? (2) Can we enhance alpha activity in the IFG using 10 Hz tACS? and (3) Does enhancement of alpha activity cause behavioral disruption?

Methods

24 right-handed, healthy participants (12 male, age range: 18–30 years, mean = 21.96, SD = 3.36) participated in the study. 9 mm² circular sponge electrodes were placed over the bilateral IFG. In three separate sessions, 1 mA tACS at 10 Hz or 16.18 Hz or sham stimulation were applied for 20 min. Before and after stimulation, 5 min of resting state EEG was recorded. The phonological task required the subjects to indicate via button press whether highly frequent German nouns like 'Zebra' consisted of two or three syllables. In a simple control task, participants had to indicate whether an arrow pointed left or right to control for unspecific effects.

Results

(1) Stimulation was a significant predictor for decision speed in the phonological task (p = .02). Specifically, participants responded faster after 10 Hz relative to sham stimulation, but not after 16.18 Hz. (2) This effect was task specific as tACS did not significantly affect the control task (p = 0.43). (3) Participants had an increase in resting state alpha power (p = .004), which wasn't modulated by stimulation (p = .70). (4) We found a significant event related desynchronization in the alpha band (p < .001), which wasn't modulated by stimulation (p = .79).

Conclusion

The results show an improvement in a phonological word task after applying 10 Hz tACS over the bilateral IFG but not in simple motoric control task. This might be explained by a paradoxical facilitation effect, resulting in an 'optimal' level of noise for task processing (Miniussi et al., 2013) or by inhibition of surrounding areas that might be competing for task resources. Since no specific effect on alpha oscillations could be found, further studies will therefore investigate effects of focal online stimulation.

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