Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Facilitates Cortical Arousal and Alertness.
Level 2 - randomized trial
Individual randomized controlled trial
PubMed 36674156 · doi:10.3390/ijerph20021402
What was done
Sixty subjects were randomly assigned to receive either 20 minutes of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) or a control intervention consisting of 30 seconds of taVNS. Effects on cortical arousal and alertness were assessed behaviorally using a cue-target pattern task and neurologically through resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG) power and microstate analyses during an eyes-closed condition.
What was found
The abstract reports effect directions without numerical data, test statistics, or effect sizes. Relative to control, taVNS facilitated reaction times for targets requiring right-hand responses and attenuated high-frequency alpha oscillations during eyes-closed resting state. The reduction in high-frequency alpha power positively correlated with reaction time improvements. In addition, taVNS reduced the mean duration of EEG microstate C.
Why it matters
The findings offer preliminary evidence that noninvasive auricular vagus nerve stimulation can modulate electrophysiological markers of cortical arousal and improve response speed in an alertness task.
Limits
The abstract lacks exact numbers, effect sizes, p-values, and confidence intervals. The sample size is modest (n = 60), only immediate post-stimulation outcomes were evaluated, the behavioral speedup was restricted to right-hand responses, and baseline participant demographics are unspecified.
Cited by
- supports Vagus nerve stimulation can increase physiological arousal and alertness rather than solely inducing calm.