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Frequency specific modulation of human somatosensory cortex
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 14:33 authored by Matteo Feurra, Walter Paulus, Vincent Walsh, Ryota KanaiOscillatory neuronal activities are commonly observed in response to sensory stimulation. However, their functional roles are still the subject of debate. One-way to probe the roles of oscillatory neural activities is to deliver alternating current to the cortex at biologically relevant frequencies and examine whether such stimulation influences perception and cognition. In this study, we tested whether transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) over the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) could elicit tactile sensations in humans in a frequency-dependent manner. We tested the effectiveness of tACS over SI at frequency bands ranging from 2 to 70 Hz. Our results show that stimulation in alpha (10-14 Hz) and high gamma (52-70 Hz) frequency range produces a tactile sensation in the contralateral hand. A weaker effect was also observed for beta (16-20 Hz) stimulation. These findings highlight the frequency dependency of effective tACS over SI with the effective frequencies corresponding to those observed in previous electroencephalography/magnetoencephalography studies of tactile perception. Our present study suggests that tACS could be used as a powerful online stimulation technique to reveal the causal roles of oscillatory brain activities.
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Publication status
- Published
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- Published version
Journal
Frontiers in PsychologyISSN
1664-1078Publisher
Frontiers Research FoundationExternal DOI
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2Page range
13Department affiliated with
- Psychology Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2013-03-11First Open Access (FOA) Date
2013-03-11First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2013-03-11Usage metrics
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