Effects of Noninvasive Cervical Vagal Nerve Stimulation on Cognitive Performance But Not Brain Activation in Healthy Adults.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

While preliminary evidence suggests that noninvasive vagal nerve stimulation (nVNS) may enhance cognition, to our knowledge, no study has directly assessed the effects of nVNS on brain function and cognitive performance in healthy individuals. The aim of this study was therefore to assess whether nVNS enhances complex visuospatial problem solving in a normative sample. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine underlying neural substrates.

Material and methods

Participants received transcutaneous cervical nVNS (N = 15) or sham (N = 15) stimulation during a 3 T fMRI scan. Stimulation lasted for 2 min at 24 V for nVNS and at 4.5 V for sham. Subjects completed a matrix reasoning (MR) task in the scanner and a forced-choice recognition task outs

SUBMITTER: Klaming R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8144242 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature