Investigating the effects of noisy stimulation on the retinofugal pathway

Jooß, A.; Haberbosch, Linus; Köhn, Arvid; Scholz, Michael; Brandt, Stephan A.

doi:10.1016/j.brs.2015.01.282

Cited by 1 publication

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“…We can therefore assume the generation of action potentials at least in the visual cell (Grützner et al, 1958; Schutter and Hortensius, 2010). Nevertheless, a threshold-lowering effect of rACS would provide an explanation for similar effects on oscillations found after retinal random noise stimulation (RNS; Jooss et al, 2015) through the mechanism of stochastic resonance (Wiesenfeld and Moss, 1995; Gluckman et al, 1996).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Rebound or Entrainment? The Influence of Alternating Current Stimulation on Individual Alpha

Haberbosch

Jooß

Köhn

et al. 2019

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Alternating current stimulation (ACS) is an established means to manipulate intrinsic cortical oscillations. While working towards clinical impact, ACS mechanisms of action remain unclear. For ACS’s well-documented influence on occipital alpha, hypotheses include neuronal entrainment as well as rebound phenomena. As a retinal origin is also discussed, we employed a novel form of ACS with the advantage that it specifically targets occipital alpha-oscillations via retinofugal pathways retinofugal ACS (rACS). We aimed to confirm alpha-enhancement outlasting the duration of stimulation with 10 Hz rACS. To distinguish entrainment from rebound effects, we investigated the correlation between alpha peak frequency change and alpha-enhancement strength. We quantified the alpha band power before and after 10 Hz rACS in 15 healthy subjects. Alpha power enhancement and alpha peak frequency change were assessed over the occipital electrodes and compared to sham stimulation. RACS significantly enhanced occipital alpha power in comparison to sham stimulation ( p < 0.05). Alpha peak frequency changed by a mean 0.02 Hz (± 0.04). A greater change in alpha peak frequency did not correlate with greater effects on alpha power. Our findings show an alpha-enhancement consistent with studies conducted for transcranial ACS (tACS) and contribute evidence for a retinal involvement in tACS effects on occipital alpha. Furthermore, the lack of correlation between alpha peak frequency change and alpha-enhancement strength provides an argument against entrainment effects and in favor of a rebound phenomenon.

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