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 - Fischer, Rico A1 - Ventura-Bort, Carlos A1 - Hamm, Alfons O. A1 - Weymar, Mathias T1 - Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) enhances conflict-triggered adjustment of cognitive control JF - Cognitive, affective, & behavioral neuroscience : a journal of the Psychonomic Society N2 - 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. KW - Conflict adaptation KW - Cognitive control KW - Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation KW - tVNS KW - ERP KW - N2 Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-018-0596-2 SN - 1530-7026 SN - 1531-135X VL - 18 IS - 4 SP - 680 EP - 693 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - GEN A1 - Ventura-Bort, Carlos A1 - Wirkner, Janine A1 - Genheimer, Hannah A1 - Wendt, Julia A1 - Hamm, Alfons O. A1 - Weymar, Mathias T1 - Effects of Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation (tVNS) on the P300 and Alpha-Amylase Level BT - A Pilot Study T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - 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. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 473 KW - EEG KW - P300 KW - tVNS KW - norepinephrine KW - locus coeruleus KW - salivary alpha-amylase Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-419259 IS - 473 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ventura-Bort, Carlos A1 - Wirkner, Janine A1 - Genheimer, Hannah A1 - Wendt, Julia A1 - Hamm, Alfons O. A1 - Weymar, Mathias T1 - Effects of Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation (tVNS) on the P300 and Alpha-Amylase Level BT - A Pilot Study JF - Frontiers in Human Neuroscience N2 - 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. KW - EEG KW - P300 KW - tVNS KW - norepinephrine KW - locus coeruleus KW - salivary alpha-amylase Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00202 SN - 1662-5161 VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER -