ArticleScientific reports2018
The critical role of phase difference in theta oscillation between bilateral parietal cortices for visuospatial working memory.
Article in Scientific reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Is transcranial alternating current stimulation effective for improving working memory? A three-level meta-analysis.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2025Pooled it
- The modulation of steady-state responses by transcranial alternating current stimulation: a scoping review.Frontiers in systems neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- No effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on visual evoked potential and peak gamma frequency.Cognitive processing · 2022Trial
- Enhanced intraparietal phase-lag synchronization in the high-gamma band during retention of visuospatial working memory.Biomedical engineering letters · 2026Article
- Variable E-field properties of dual-site tACS with phase lags.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Dual-site theta stimulation modulates connectivity, but not sequence memory in older adults.Brain communications · 2026Article
- Effect of theta-transcranial alternating current stimulation on working memory performance among healthy adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Memory dependent modulation of hippocampal theta power through frontoparietal phase synchronous brain stimulation.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Phase-lagged tACS between executive and default mode networks modulates working memory.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Preclinical insights into gamma-tACS: foundations for clinical translation in neurodegenerative diseases.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
- Enhancing visual working memory in schizophrenia: effects of frontoparietal theta tACS in low-performing patients.Schizophrenia (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2024Article
- Theta-gamma-coupling as predictor of working memory performance in young and elderly healthy people.Molecular brain · 2024Article
- Improving working memory by electrical stimulation and cross-frequency coupling.Molecular brain · 2024Article
- Neuromodulation of inhibitory control using phase-lagged transcranial alternating current stimulation.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2024Article
- No effects of the theta-frequency transcranial electrical stimulation for recall, attention control, and relation integration in working memory.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2024Article
- Research progress on the intervention of cognitive function using transcranial alternating current stimulation technology.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Effective connectivity of working memory performance: a DCM study of MEG data.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2024Article
- Transcranial alternating current stimulation over multiple brain areas with non-zero phase delays other than 180 degrees modulates visuospatial working memory performance.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Neuromodulatory effects of transcranial electrical stimulation on emotion regulation in internalizing psychopathologies.Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2023Article
- Gamma sensory entrainment for cognitive improvement in neurodegenerative diseases: opportunities and challenges ahead.Frontiers in integrative neuroscience · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Visual working memory (VWM) refers to people's ability to maintain and manipulate visual information on line. Its capacity varies between individuals, and neuroimaging studies have suggested a link between one's VWM capacity and theta power in the parietal cortex. However, it is unclear how the parietal cortices communicate with each other in order to support VWM processing. In two experiments we employed transcranial alternate current stimulation (tACS) to use frequency-specific (6 Hz) alternating current to modulate theta oscillation between the left and right parietal cortex with either in-phase (0° difference, Exp 1), anti-phase (180° difference, Exp 2), or sham sinusoidal current stimulation. In Experiment 1, in-phase theta tACS induced an improved VWM performance, but only in low-performers, whereas high-performers suffered a marginally-significant VWM impairment. In Experiment 2, anti-phase theta tACS did not help the low-performers, but significantly impaired high-performers' VWM capacity. These results not only provide causal evidence for theta oscillation in VWM processing, they also highlight the intricate interaction between tACS and individual differences-where the same protocol that enhances low-performers' VWM can backfire for the high-performers. We propose that signal complexity via coherent timing and phase synchronization within the bilateral parietal network is crucial for successful VWM functioning.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.