Combined Effect of Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation and 0.1 Hz Slow-paced Breathing on Working Memory

Overview

Journal Front Neurosci

Date 2023 Mar 27

PMID 36968483

Authors

Qian-Qian Tian

Chen Cheng

Peng-Hui Liu

Zi-Xin Yin

Meng-Kai Zhang

Ya-Peng Cui

Rui Zhao

Hui Deng

Li-Ming Lu

Chun-Zhi Tang

Neng-Gui Xu

Xue-Juan Yang

Jin-Bo Sun

Wei Qin

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Previous research has found that transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) can improve working memory (WM) performance. It has also been shown that 0.1 Hz slow-paced breathing (SPB, i.e., breathing at a rate of approximately 6 breaths/min) can significantly influence physical state and cognitive function changes in autonomic afferent activity. In the present study, we investigated the synergistic effects of taVNS and SPB on WM performance.

Methods: A total of 96 healthy people participated in this within-subjects experiment involving four conditions, namely taVNS, SPB, combined taVNS with SPB (taVNS + SPB), and sham. Each participant underwent each intervention for 30 min and WM was compared pre- and post-intervention using the spatial and digit n-back tasks in a random order four times. Permutation-based analysis of variance was used to assess the interaction between time and intervention.

Results: For the spatial 3-back task, a significant interaction between time and intervention was found for the accuracy rate of matching trials (mACC, = 0.03). analysis suggested that both taVNS and taVNS + SPB improved WM performance, however, no significant difference was found in the SPB or sham groups.

Conclusion: This study has replicated the effects of taVNS on WM performance reported in previous studies. However, the synergistic effects of combined taVNS and SPB warrant further research.

Citing Articles

Influence of a 2-week transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on memory: findings from a randomized placebo controlled trial in non-clinical adults.

Cibulcova V, Koenig J, Jackowska M, Jandackova V Clin Auton Res. 2024; 34(4):447-462.

PMID: 39039354 PMC: 11732881. DOI: 10.1007/s10286-024-01053-0.

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