Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) modulates flow experience

Colzato, Lorenza S.; Wolters, Gina; Peifer, Corinna

doi:10.1007/s00221-017-5123-0

Cited by 36 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(47 reference statements)

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“…TVNS, via activation of the LC-NE system, may facilitate all of these processes. Some studies already showed improvements in emotion recognition (Colzato et al, 2017 ) cognitive control (Sellaro et al, 2015 ; Steenbergen et al, 2015 ; Beste et al, 2016 ), adaptability (Fischer et al, 2018 ), flow experience (Colzato et al, 2018 ), declarative fear extinction (Burger et al, 2016 ), and associative memory (Jacobs et al, 2015 ) following transcutaneous vagus stimulation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation (tVNS) on the P300 and Alpha-Amylase Level: A Pilot Study

Ventura‐Bort

Wirkner

Genheimer

et al. 2018

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

103

135

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Recent research suggests that the P3b may be closely related to the activation of the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system. To further study the potential association, we applied a novel technique, the non-invasive transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS), which is speculated to increase noradrenaline levels. Using a within-subject cross-over design, 20 healthy participants received continuous tVNS and sham stimulation on two consecutive days (stimulation counterbalanced across participants) while performing a visual oddball task. During stimulation, oval non-targets (standard), normal-head (easy) and rotated-head (difficult) targets, as well as novel stimuli (scenes) were presented. As an indirect marker of noradrenergic activation we also collected salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) before and after stimulation. Results showed larger P3b amplitudes for target, relative to standard stimuli, irrespective of stimulation condition. Exploratory post hoc analyses, however, revealed that, in comparison to standard stimuli, easy (but not difficult) targets produced larger P3b (but not P3a) amplitudes during active tVNS, compared to sham stimulation. For sAA levels, although main analyses did not show differential effects of stimulation, direct testing revealed that tVNS (but not sham stimulation) increased sAA levels after stimulation. Additionally, larger differences between tVNS and sham stimulation in P3b magnitudes for easy targets were associated with larger increase in sAA levels after tVNS, but not after sham stimulation. Despite preliminary evidence for a modulatory influence of tVNS on the P3b, which may be partly mediated by activation of the noradrenergic system, additional research in this field is clearly warranted. Future studies need to clarify whether tVNS also facilitates other processes, such as learning and memory, and whether tVNS can be used as therapeutic tool.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation (tVNS) on the P300 and Alpha-Amylase Level: A Pilot Study

Ventura‐Bort

Wirkner

Genheimer

et al. 2018

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

103

135

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Recent studies demonstrated that tVNS affected posterror slowing (Sellaro et al, 2015), response selection functions (Steenbergen et al, 2015;Jongkees et al, 2018), response speed when two actions were executed in succession (Steenbergen et al, 2015), divergent thinking (Colzato et al, 2018a), and emotion recognition (Colzato et al, 2017;Sellaro et al, 2018). tVNS also significantly influenced inhibitory control processes (Beste et al, 2016) and decreased flow experience during a task (Colzato et al, 2018b). A study by Jacobs et al (2015) was the first study to investigate the effect of tVNS on memory performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation Does Not Affect Verbal Memory Performance in Healthy Volunteers

et al. 2020

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Conclusion: In this study, tVNS did not affect verbal memory performance in healthy volunteers. Our results could not replicate the positive effects of invasive VNS on word recognition memory in epilepsy patients. Future research with the aim of improving cognitive function should focus on the rational identification of optimized and individualized stimulation settings primarily in patients with cognitive deficits.

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“…Applying tVNS in order to stimulate LC activity has been shown to facilitate a wide range of affective and cognitive functions, including emotion recognition (Colzato, Sellaro, & Beste, 2017;Sellaro, de Gelder, Finisguerra, & Colzato, 2018), flow experience (Colzato, Wolters, & Peifer, 2018), divergent thinking (Colzato, Ritter, & Steenbergen, 2018), associative memory (Jacobs, Riphagen, Razat, Wiese, & Sack, 2015), attentional processing (Ventura-Bort et al, submitted), and various processes associated with cognitive control. For example, tVNS has been shown to increase post-error slowing (Sellaro et al, 2015) to speed responses in a stop-change paradigm without affecting the stopping response time (Steenbergen et al, 2015) and to reduce the commission of false alarms under challenging conditions in a response inhibition paradigm (Beste et al, 2016).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) enhances conflict-triggered adjustment of cognitive control

Fischer

Ventura‐Bort

Hamm

et al. 2018

Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci

103

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Response conflicts play a prominent role in the flexible adaptation of behavior as they represent context-signals that indicate the necessity for the recruitment of cognitive control. Previous studies have highlighted the functional roles of the affectively aversive and arousing quality of the conflict signal in triggering the adaptation process. To further test this potential link with arousal, participants performed a response conflict task in two separate sessions with either transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS), which is assumed to activate the locus coeruleus-noradrenaline (LC-NE) system, or with neutral sham stimulation. In both sessions the N2 and P3 event-related potentials (ERP) were assessed. In line with previous findings, conflict interference, the N2 and P3 amplitude were reduced after conflict. Most importantly, this adaptation to conflict was enhanced under tVNS compared to sham stimulation for conflict interference and the N2 amplitude. No effect of tVNS on the P3 component was found. These findings suggest that tVNS increases behavioral and electrophysiological markers of adaptation to conflict. Results are discussed in the context of the potentially underlying LC-NE and other neuromodulatory (e.g., GABA) systems. The present findings add important pieces to the understanding of the neurophysiological mechanisms of conflict-triggered adjustment of cognitive control.

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Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) modulates flow experience

Abstract: of attention over exploitation of the current focus of attention, allowing rapid behavioral adaptation and resulting in decreased absorption scores. Furthermore, our findings corroborate the hypothesis that the vagus nerve and noradrenergic system are causally involved in flow.

Cited by 36 publications

References 32 publications

Effects of Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation (tVNS) on the P300 and Alpha-Amylase Level: A Pilot Study

Effects of Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation (tVNS) on the P300 and Alpha-Amylase Level: A Pilot Study

Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation Does Not Affect Verbal Memory Performance in Healthy Volunteers

Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) enhances conflict-triggered adjustment of cognitive control

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