Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) mechanisms and protocols
- Creators
- Tavakoli, Amir V.
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Yun, Kyongsik
Abstract
Perception, cognition and consciousness can be modulated as a function of oscillating neural activity, while ongoing neuronal dynamics are influenced by synaptic activity and membrane potential. Consequently, transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) may be used for neurological intervention. The advantageous features of tACS include the biphasic and sinusoidal tACS currents, the ability to entrain large neuronal populations, and subtle control over somatic effects. Through neuromodulation of phasic, neural activity, tACS is a powerful tool to investigate the neural correlates of cognition. The rapid development in this area requires clarity about best practices. Here we briefly introduce tACS and review the most compelling findings in the literature to provide a starting point for using tACS. We suggest that tACS protocols be based on functional brain mechanisms and appropriate control experiments, including active sham and condition blinding.
Additional Information
© 2017 Tavakoli and Yun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Received: 15 May 2017; Accepted: 04 July 2017; Published: 01 September 2017. The authors would like to warmly thank Seana Shiffrin, Daw-An Wu, Majed Samad and Nicco Reggente for their guidance and review of the manuscript. Author Contributions: AVT and KY compiled literature for this review. KY provided mentorship on methods, theory and prose. AVT wrote the manuscript and provided illustrations. 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.Attached Files
Published - fncel-11-00214.pdf
Submitted - 138834.full.pdf
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Additional details
- PMCID
- PMC5591642
- Eprint ID
- 82211
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20171009-112032130
- Created
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2017-10-09Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2023-06-01Created from EPrint's last_modified field