TY - JOUR A1 - Weymar, Mathias A1 - Zähle, Tino T1 - Editorial: New frontiers in noninvasive brain stimulation BT - cognitive, affective and neurobiological effects of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation JF - Frontiers in psychology / Frontiers Research Foundation KW - vagus nerve stimulation KW - tVNS KW - neuromodulation KW - cognition KW - affective KW - neurobiological Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.694723 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 12 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ventura-Bort, Carlos A1 - Wirkner, Janine A1 - Wendt, Julia A1 - Hamm, Alfons O. A1 - Weymar, Mathias T1 - Establishment of emotional memories is mediated by vagal nerve activation BT - evidence from noninvasive taVNS JF - The journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience N2 - Emotional memories are better remembered than neutral ones, but the mechanisms leading to this memory bias are not well under-stood in humans yet. Based on animal research, it is suggested that the memory-enhancing effect of emotion is based on central nor-adrenergic release, which is triggered by afferent vagal nerve activation. To test the causal link between vagus nerve activation and emotional memory in humans, we applied continuous noninvasive transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) during exposure to emotional arousing and neutral scenes and tested subsequent, long-term recognition memory after 1 week. We found that taVNS, compared with sham, increased recollection-based memory performance for emotional, but not neutral, material. These findings were complemented by larger recollection-related brain potentials (parietal ERP Old/New effect) during retrieval of emotional scenes encoded under taVNS, compared with sham. Furthermore, brain potentials recorded during encoding also revealed that taVNS facilitated early attentional discrimination between emotional and neutral scenes. Extending animal research, our behavioral and neu-ral findings confirm a modulatory influence of the vagus nerve in emotional memory formation in humans. KW - emotion KW - ERPs KW - memory KW - Old KW - New effect KW - LPP KW - vagus nerve KW - tVNS Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2329-20.2021 SN - 1529-2401 VL - 41 IS - 36 SP - 7636 EP - 7648 PB - Society for Neuroscience CY - Washington, DC ER - TY - JOUR A1 - D'Agostini, Martina A1 - Burger, Andreas M. A1 - Franssen, Mathijs A1 - Claes, Nathalie A1 - Weymar, Mathias A1 - Leupoldt, Andreas von A1 - Van Diest, Ilse T1 - Effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on reversal learning, tonic pupil size, salivary alpha-amylase, and cortisol JF - Psychophysiology : journal of the Society for Psychophysiological Research N2 - This study investigated whether transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) enhances reversal learning and augments noradrenergic biomarkers (i.e., pupil size, cortisol, and salivary alpha-amylase [sAA]). We also explored the effect of taVNS on respiratory rate and cardiac vagal activity (CVA). Seventy-one participants received stimulation of either the cymba concha (taVNS) or the earlobe (sham) of the left ear. After learning a series of cue-outcome associations, the stimulation was applied before and throughout a reversal phase in which cue-outcome associations were changed for some (reversal), but not for other (distractor) cues. Tonic pupil size, salivary cortisol, sAA, respiratory rate, and CVA were assessed at different time points. Contrary to our hypothesis, taVNS was not associated with an overall improvement in performance on the reversal task. Compared to sham, the taVNS group performed worse for distractor than reversal cues. taVNS did not increase tonic pupil size and sAA. Only post hoc analyses indicated that the cortisol decline was steeper in the sham compared to the taVNS group. Exploratory analyses showed that taVNS decreased respiratory rate but did not affect CVA. The weak and unexpected effects found in this study might relate to the lack of parameters optimization for taVNS and invite to further investigate the effect of taVNS on cortisol and respiratory rate. KW - cortisol KW - noradrenaline KW - pupillometry KW - reversal learning KW - salivary KW - alpha-amylase KW - transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13885 SN - 1469-8986 SN - 1540-5958 VL - 58 IS - 10 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Malden, Mass. [u.a.] ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Blaser, Berenike Lisa A1 - Weymar, Mathias A1 - Wendt, Julia T1 - The effect of a single-session heart rate variability biofeedback on attentional control BT - does stress matter? JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - Introduction Vagally mediated heart rate variability is an index of autonomic nervous system activity that is associated with a large variety of outcome variables including psychopathology and self-regulation. While practicing heart rate variability biofeedback over several weeks has been reliably associated with a number of positive outcomes, its acute effects are not well known. As the strongest association with vagally mediated heart rate variability has been found particularly within the attention-related subdomain of self-regulation, we investigated the acute effect of heart rate variability biofeedback on attentional control using the revised Attention Network Test. Methods Fifty-six participants were tested in two sessions. In one session each participant received a heart rate variability biofeedback intervention, and in the other session a control intervention of paced breathing at a normal ventilation rate. After the biofeedback or control intervention, participants completed the Attention Network Test using the Orienting Score as a measure of attentional control. Results Mixed models revealed that higher resting baseline vagally mediated heart rate variability was associated with better performance in attentional control, which suggests more efficient direction of attention to target stimuli. There was no significant main effect of the intervention on attentional control. However, an interaction effect indicated better performance in attentional control after biofeedback in individuals who reported higher current stress levels. Discussion The results point to acute beneficial effects of heart rate variability biofeedback on cognitive performance in highly stressed individuals. Although promising, the results need to be replicated in larger or more targeted samples in order to reach stronger conclusions about the effects. KW - attention KW - self-regulation KW - heart rate variability KW - biofeedback KW - cognitive control KW - stress KW - vagal tone KW - slow-paced breathing Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1292983 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 14 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER -