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There is a need to facilitate acquisition of real world cognitive multi-tasks that require long periods of training (e.g., air traffic control, intelligence analysis, medicine). Non-invasive brain stimulation—specifically transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)—has promise as a method to speed multi-task training. We hypothesized that during...
Citations
... For bimodal tDCS with larger electrodes, this influence might be more negligible, as multiple areas rather than precise regions are stimulated [31][32][33]. Due to its impact on widespread areas, it may be easier to target memory networks because multiple nodes might be influenced [66,67], resulting in beneficial tDCS effects for OLM in the past [29,30,34]. When applying focal tDCS, the stimulation location has to be chosen very precisely, since the stimulation radius will be smaller compared to bimodal tDCS and even minor derivations might influence the effect [31,68,69]. ...
Remembering objects and their associated location (object–location memory; OLM), is a fundamental cognitive function, mediated by cortical and subcortical brain regions. Previously, the combination of OLM training and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) suggested beneficial effects, but the evidence remains heterogeneous. Here, we applied focal tDCS over the right temporoparietal cortex in 52 participants during a two-day OLM training, with anodal tDCS (2 mA, 20 min) or sham (40 s) on the first day. The focal stimulation did not enhance OLM performance on either training day (stimulation effect: −0.09, 95%CI: [−0.19; 0.02], p = 0.08). Higher electric field magnitudes in the target region were not associated with individual performance benefits. Participants with content-related learning strategies showed slightly superior performance compared to participants with position-related strategies. Additionally, training gains were associated with individual verbal learning skills. Consequently, the lack of behavioral benefits through focal tDCS might be due to the involvement of different cognitive processes and brain regions, reflected by participant’s learning strategies. Future studies should evaluate whether other brain regions or memory-relevant networks may be involved in the modulation of object–location associations, investigating other target regions, and further exploring individualized stimulation parameters.
... Choe investigated tDCS effects for an nBack task and a flight simulator, finding improved performance and learning in both tasks, implying benefits in the microcognitive and macrocognitive domains. 1 Further, Scheldrup et al. found improvements in multitasking while utilizing tDCS, suggesting improved macrocognitive performance. 16 In addition to direct performance enhancement, tDCS has been shown to reduce perceived temporal workload in surgical simulations. 23 High levels of mental workload can lead to stress and performance decrements in operators 22 ; thus, neuromodulation techniques that influence mental workload may indirectly impact operator performance. ...
... An a priori power analysis based on the results of Scheldrup et al. suggested that we needed 16 subjects for our study design to find an effect size greater than 0.3, as Scheldrup et al. found for tDCS. 16 This research was approved by the University of Colorado-Boulder's Institutional Review Board (protocol #20-0347) and written informed consent was obtained prior to participation. Subjects were prescreened and excluded if they reported a history of health issues that could impact cognitive abilities, such as severe head trauma or disorders associated with thinking impairment. ...
INTRODUCTION: Adding noise to a system to improve a weak signal's detectability is known as stochastic resonance (SR). SR has been shown to improve sensory perception and cognitive performance in certain individuals, but it is unknown whether this performance improvement can translate to meaningful macrocognitive enhancements in performance for complex, operational tasks.OBJECTIVE: We investigated human operator performance in a lunar landing simulation while applying auditory white noise and/or noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation.METHODS: We measured performance (N = 16 subjects) while completing simulation trials in our Aerospace Research Simulator. Trials were completed with and without the influence of auditory white noise, noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation, and both simultaneously in a multimodal fashion. Performance was observed holistically and across subdimensions of the task, which included flight skill and perception. Subjective mental workload was collected after completing four trials in each treatment.RESULTS: We did not find broad operator improvement under the influence of noise, but a significant interaction was identified between subject and noise treatment, indicating that some subjects were impacted by additive noise. We also found significant interactions between subject and noise treatment in performance subdimensions of flight skill and perception. We found no significant main effects on mental workload.CONCLUSIONS: This study investigated the utility of using additive sensory noise to induce SR for complex tasks. While SR has been shown to improve aspects of performance, our results suggest additive noise does not yield operational performance changes for a broad population, but specific individuals may be affected.Sherman SO, Shen Y-Y, Gutierrez-Mendoza D, Schlittenhart M, Watson C, Clark TK, Anderson AP. Additive sensory noise effects on operator performance in a lunar landing simulation. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2023; 94(10):770-779.
... Again, this finding may be dependent on the difficulty of the cognitive task, as well as the nature of the cognitive task itself. The tDCS montage implemented targeted the DLPFC, as it is highly integrated with WM processes (see Owen et al., [17] for a review); thus, the tDCS montage may have not been optimized for the cognitive tasks [62] utilized within the CogniFit battery. ...
... Second, we implemented a single tDCS session over the right DLPFC; although we report significant HbO concentration and cognitive performance changes, future studies should explore the effect of multisession tDCS on these variables, as well as different montages and doses [2,62,[69][70][71]. Although this study controlled for interindividual resting-state HbO, additional factors including WM strategy, motivation, individual WM capacity, age, and education may have impacted the results [6,26,40,41,72]. ...
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been explored as a potential method for cognitive enhancement. tDCS may induce a cascade of neurophysiological changes including alterations in cerebral oxygenation. However, the effects of tDCS on the cognitive-cerebral oxygenation interaction remains unclear. Further, oxygenation variability across individuals remains minimally controlled for. The purpose of this sham-controlled study was to test the effects of anodal tDCS over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on the interaction between working memory and cerebral oxygenation while controlling for individual oxygenation variability. Thirty-three adults received resting-state functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) recordings over bilateral prefrontal cortices. Following this, working memory was tested using a Toulouse n-back task concurrently paired with fNIRS, with measurements taken before and after 20minutes of anodal or sham tDCS at 1.5mA. With individual oxygenation controlled for, anodal tDCS was found to increase the oxyhemoglobin concentration over the right DLPFC during the 2-back (q =.015) and 3-back (q =.008) conditions. Additionally, anodal tDCS was found to improve accuracy during the 3-back task by 13.4% (p =.028) and decrease latency by 250 ms (p =.013). The increase in oxyhemoglobin was strongly correlated with increases in accuracy (p =.041) and decreases in latency during the 3-back span (p =.017). Taken together, anodal tDCS over the right DLPFC was found to regionally increase oxyhemoglobin concentrations and improve working memory performance in higher cognitive load conditions.
... This video game (non-commercial) was initially developed by psychologists to better understand learning strategies and human information processing in the 80s and 90s. Since then, Space Fortress has been extensively studied in the scientific literature (see Boot et al., 2017;Donchin, 1995;Gopher et al., 1994;Lee, Boot, et al., 2012;Lee, Voss, et al., 2012;Rabbitt et al., 1989;Scheldrup et al., 2014;Voss et al., 2012;Erickson et al., 2007;Maclin et al., 2011;Boot et al., 2010, to name a few). ...
The ability to perform complex tasks is emblematic of human behavior. It is essential in many aspects of daily life, which is particularly true in contexts where the safety of people depends on this ability (e.g. airline pilots) or for people with cognitive impairments. The objective of this thesis was twofold: (1) to develop tools for predicting complex task performance in healthy people based on neurophysiological data; and (2) to develop protocols to improve complex task performance in healthy people or daily-living task in brain-damaged patients.
To achieve these objectives, we first selected a task qualified as complex (Space Fortress) because it was described as involving high-level cognitive functions such as executive functions. We demonstrated for the first time that this task has solid psychometric qualities, being highly sensitive, reliable and valid, making it a suitable task that relies on global executive functions.
The first research axis focused on the prediction of performance on this task from neurophysiological measures. Using two different neuroimaging techniques (functional near-infrared spectroscopy and electroencephalography), we were able to demonstrate that the intrinsic (i.e. resting state) brain activity of the fronto-parietal network could predict a part of the overall performance on this task. A major perspective of this work is that there may be intrinsic neural markers of more complex tasks (e.g. flying a plane or driving). In the context of neuroergonomics, such markers could be used either as a predictive tool for selection purposes or as an opportunity to elaborate individualized cognitive training.
A second line of research focused on improving performance with the use of non-invasive brain stimulation coupled with cognitive training. Our results also show that a certain type of montage (high-definition transcranial random noise stimulation) would promote not the speed of learning, but the maintenance of long-term performance. Similar results, which remain to be confirmed, have been obtained in dysexecutive brain-damaged patients, with an improvement of performance in some of their daily tasks (e.g. planning errands, managing an email box, cooking a recipe).
The results obtained during this thesis could lead to the development of new targeted cognitive training programs. Such programs could allow the improvement of the quality of training and care of certain people, whether they are healthy, facing complex situations, or brain-damaged, facing daily challenges.
... Using anodal tDCS to enhance multitasking ability, recent studies have shown improvements over sham stimulation 29,30 but others seem to be suggesting that these results are subtask and location-dependent 31,32 . Both Scheldrup et al. 32 and Nelson et al. 29 have results similar to the present study, in that the subtasks requiring visual attention (system monitoring, lights, and dials metrics) seem to be disproportionately affected by stimulation when compared to tasks requiring motor control (targeting metric/visual-motor tracking task) or auditory attention (communication metric/auditory communications monitoring task). Also, the present results specifically show the performance benefits of stimulation peaking at about 12 h post stimulation. ...
Fatigue is a pervasive public health and safety issue. Common fatigue countermeasures include caffeine or other chemical stimulants. These can be effective in limited circumstances but other non-pharmacological fatigue countermeasures such as non-invasive electrical neuromodulation have shown promise. It is reasonable to suspect that other types of non-invasive neuromodulation may be similarly effective or perhaps even superior. The objective of this research was to evaluate the efficacy of cervical transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation (ctVNS) to mitigate the negative effects of fatigue on cognition and mood. Two groups (active or sham stimulation) of twenty participants in each group completed 34 h of sustained wakefulness. The ctVNS group performed significantly better on arousal, multi-tasking, and reported significantly lower fatigue ratings compared to sham for the duration of the study. CtVNS could be a powerful fatigue countermeasure tool that is easy to administer, long-lasting, and has fewer side-effects compared to common pharmacological interventions. Lindsey McIntire et al. assess the impact of noninvasive cervical transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation (ctVNS) on cognitive performance, mood, and attention in a cohort of sleep-deprived participants. Their results suggest that ctVNS can significantly improve arousal and multi-tasking, and may represent an alternative treatment for fatigue in humans.
... Functionally, adaptation focusses on an error decrease by changing challenge levels to facilitate a return to the previous level of performance, while participants movements are updated due to changes in motor outputs or sensory inputs. TDCS has been shown specifically to enhance adaptation of real world cognitive multi-tasks by specifically targeting the goal-directed dorsal attention network by right parietal anodal stimulation and thereby resulting in improved task performance [133]. It is important to acknowledge that tDCS has been shown to result in ceiling effects for experts compared to novice performers in which at a certain level of expertise, tDCS has been shown to not have a significant impact on performance [134][135][136][137]. ...
... The tDCS set up focused on an anodal right parietal and cathodal left frontal stimulation that also showed support for flow state induction, this time in alignment with a deactivation of MPFC associated with high flow states. Therefore, we see here an introduction into the facilitative role of tDCS experience enhancement that can potentially improve people's skill level in order that the participant could reach the skill-challenge balance [133] that allows for a greater movement into flow states [140]. Other transcranial stimulation technologies may be worth considering for future research on flow that may also show a facilitative effect such as transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) which stimulate at a specific frequency and has shown to result in entrainment of neural networks to improve cognitive performance such as spatial reasoning [141] and working memory [142]. ...
Flow states have been shown to help people reach peak performance, yet this elusive state is not easily attained. The review describes the current state of literature on flow by addressing the environmental influences as well as the cognitive and neurocognitive elements that underlie the experience. In particular, the research focusses on the transition of cognitive control from an explicit to an implicit process. This is further expanded upon to look at the current, yet related neurocognitive research of high performance associated with the implicit process of automaticity. Finally, the review focusses on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) as a novel method to facilitates an induction of flow states. Implications are aimed at a general technique to improve on skill acquisition and overall performance.
... Indeed, there has been an increasing interest in exploring the potential of using NIBS-based techniques in multiple domains, including physical capability and athletic performance [13], as well as muscular strength, endurance, and fatigue [9,14]. Additional evidence also suggests the effectiveness of NIBS in improving working memory [19,20], decision making [21], attention [22,23], multi-tasking [24], reaction time [25], and motor learning and skill acquisition [26][27][28]. These performance-related outcomes are highly relevant to the training and performance characteristics of esports [6,7]. ...
During the last two decades, esports, a highly competitive sporting activity, has gained increasing popularity. Both performance and competition in esports require players to have fine motor skills and physical and cognitive abilities in controlling and manipulating digital activities in a virtual environment. While strategies for building and improving skills and abilities are crucial for successful gaming performance, few effective training approaches exist in the fast-growing area of competitive esports. In this paper, we describe a non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) approach and highlight the relevance and potential areas for research while being cognizant of various technical, safety, and ethical issues related to NIBS when applied to esports.
... Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive neuromodulation technique which is used in a wide range of clinical trials and neuroscience researches [1-6]. In recent years, increasing amount of evidence has supported the effectiveness of tDCS in substance-use disorders (SUDs) as a novel treatment option [7][8][9][10][11]. Although previous findings revealed a potential role for tDCS in SUDs, stimulation protocol is not consistent across the studies and there is no general agreement about optimal stimulation dose (e.g. ...
... Individualized CHMs of 20 people with MUDs were created for six different montages. Although conventional-tDCS with two large electrode pads is more common in addiction medicine [11][12], novel tDCS montages such as HD [19][20][21][22] or ring electrodes [23-24] allows for more focal current delivery. Therefore, to compare the inter-individual variability, we simulated CHMs for both conventional and focal montages; four of the most used conventional electrode and two more focal montages as described in Table I. ...
... This represents one of the most important limitations of tES (Horvath et al. 2014;Krause and Cohen Kadosh 2014;Li et al. 2015;Fertonani and Miniussi 2016). The individual effects of tES are dependent on intensity, electrode montage (Moliadze et al. 2010b;Teo et al. 2011;Moliadze et al. 2012;Batsikadze et al. 2013;Sehm et al. 2013;Scheldrup et al. 2014;Mehta et al. 2015;Brauer et al. 2018), stimulation duration and frequency (Nitsche and Paulus 2000;Kanai et al. 2010;Stagg and Nitsche 2011;Brignani et al. 2013;Feurra et al. 2013;Wach et al. 2013;Cabral-Calderin et al. 2016;Brauer et al. 2018), and on the timing of stimulation relative to task engagement (Pirulli et al. 2013;Scheldrup et al. 2014;Cabral-Calderin et al. 2016;Brauer et al. 2018). ...
... This represents one of the most important limitations of tES (Horvath et al. 2014;Krause and Cohen Kadosh 2014;Li et al. 2015;Fertonani and Miniussi 2016). The individual effects of tES are dependent on intensity, electrode montage (Moliadze et al. 2010b;Teo et al. 2011;Moliadze et al. 2012;Batsikadze et al. 2013;Sehm et al. 2013;Scheldrup et al. 2014;Mehta et al. 2015;Brauer et al. 2018), stimulation duration and frequency (Nitsche and Paulus 2000;Kanai et al. 2010;Stagg and Nitsche 2011;Brignani et al. 2013;Feurra et al. 2013;Wach et al. 2013;Cabral-Calderin et al. 2016;Brauer et al. 2018), and on the timing of stimulation relative to task engagement (Pirulli et al. 2013;Scheldrup et al. 2014;Cabral-Calderin et al. 2016;Brauer et al. 2018). ...
This study investigates the effect of corticospinal excitability during sham stimulation on the individual response to transcranial non-invasive brain stimulation (tNIBS). Thirty healthy young adults aged 24.2 ± 2.8 S.D. participated in the study. Sham, as well as 1 mA of tRNS and 140 Hz tACS stimulation were applied for 10 min each at different sessions. The effect of each stimulation type was quantified by recording TMS-induced, motor evoked potentials (MEPs) before (baseline) and at fixed time points after stimulation (T0, T30, T60 min.). According to the individual response to sham stimulation at T0 in comparison to baseline MEPs, subjects were regarded as responder or non-responder to sham. Following, MEPs at T0, T30 and T60 after verum or sham stimulation were assessed with a repeated measures ANOVA with the within-subject factor stimulation (sham, tRNS, 140 Hz tACS) and the between-subjects factor group (responder vs non-responder). We found that individuals who did not show immediately changes in excitability in sham stimulation sessions were the ones who responded to active stimulation conditions. On the other hand, individuals who responded to sham condition, by either increases or decreases in MEPS, did not respond to active verum stimulation. This result suggests that the presence or lack of responses to sham stimulation can provide a marker for how individuals will respond to tRNS/tACS and thus provide an explanation for the variability in interindividual response. The results of this study draw attention to the general reactivity of the brain, which can be taken into account when planning future studies using tNIBS.
... Compared to TMS, one limitation of conventional tDCS is its lower spatial resolution (Priori, Hallett, & Rothwell, 2009;Sellaro, Nitsche, & Colzato, 2016). HD-tDCS has been shown to better localize the effects of stimulation (Alam, Truong, Khadka, & Bikson, 2016), which may narrow the gap of spatial resolution between tDCS and TMS. ...
... However, HD-tDCS, as compared to rTMS, has advantages in terms of adverse effect profiles, as well as the cost, availability and portability of equipment. While these advantages may position HD-tDCS as having greater translational appeal (Coffman et al., 2014;Priori et al., 2009;Sellaro et al., 2016), due to the limited cognitive effects as shown in this study, further research is required to understand its mechanisms of action and optimize efficacy (Berryhill & Martin, 2018). ...
... Using bilateral tDCS, Jacobson et al. (2012) found a significant improvement in the ability to discriminate studied from unstudied words. Further, there is some evidence to suggest that, compared to the left PPC, anodal tDCS over the right PPC may induce stronger effects on attentional performance (Filmer et al., 2015;Roy, Sparing, Fink, & Hesse, 2015;Sarasso et al., 2019;Scheldrup et al., 2014). Some rTMS studies have also shown that the right PPC is important for visual attention functions (Fierro et al., 2000;Sack et al., 2007;Salatino, Poncini, George, & Ricci, 2014). ...
Objectives
Noninvasive brain stimulation methods, including high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) and theta burst stimulation (TBS) have emerged as novel tools to modulate and explore brain function. However, the relative efficacy of these newer stimulation approaches for modulating cognitive functioning remains unclear. This study investigated the cognitive effects of HD-tDCS, intermittent TBS (iTBS) and prolonged continuous TBS (ProcTBS) and explored the potential of these approaches for modulating hypothesized functions of the left posterior parietal cortex (PPC).
Methods
Twenty-two healthy volunteers attended four experimental sessions in a cross-over experimental design. In each session, participants either received HD-tDCS, iTBS, ProcTBS or sham, and completed cognitive tasks, including a divided attention task, a working memory maintenance task and an attention task (emotional Stroop test).
Results
The results showed that compared to sham, HD-tDCS, iTBS and ProcTBS caused significantly faster response times on the emotional Stroop task. The effect size (Cohen’s d ) was d = .32 for iTBS ( p < .001), .21 for ProcTBS ( p = .01) and .15 for HD-tDCS ( p = .044). However, for the performance on the divided attention and working memory maintenance tasks, no significant effect of stimulation was found.
Conclusions
The results suggest that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation techniques, including TBS, may have greater efficacy for modulating cognition compared with HD-tDCS, and extend existing knowledge about specific functions of the left PPC.
