ArticlePLoS biology2020
tACS entrains neural activity while somatosensory input is blocked.
Article in PLoS biology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 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
50 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 98 citations in OpenAlex.
- Transcranial alternating current stimulation for neuropsychiatric disorders: a systematic review of treatment parameters and outcomes.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS): from basic mechanisms towards first applications in psychiatry.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2021Pooled it
- Cutaneous Alternating Current Stimulation Can Cause a Phasic Modulation of Speech Perception.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Acute ethanol enhances septohippocampal coordination but disrupts intrinsic hippocampal theta dynamics during foraging.Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- Intensity-dependent tACS entrainment effects in a cortical microcircuit: a computational study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Multi-scale model of neural entrainment by transcranial alternating current stimulation in realistic cortical anatomy.Journal of computational neuroscience · 2025Article
- Brain stimulation preferentially influences long-range projections.Science advances · 2025Article
- Simultaneous tACS-fMRI reveals state- and frequency-specific modulation of hippocampal-cortical functional connectivity.Communications psychology · 2025Article
- Beta tACS of varying intensities differentially affect resting-state and movement-related sensorimotor power.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Neuronal effects of epicranial current stimulation in macaque cortex.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Harnessing theta waves: tACS as a breakthrough in alleviating post-stroke chronic pain.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
- Neuroplastic effects of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS): from mechanisms to clinical trials.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Review
- Aligning Event-Related Potentials with Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation for Modulation-a Review.Brain topography · 2024Review
- Improving working memory by electrical stimulation and cross-frequency coupling.Molecular brain · 2024Article
- Article
- Modal Analysis of Cerebrovascular Effects for Digital Health Integration of Neurostimulation Therapies-A Review of Technology Concepts.Brain sciences · 2024Article
- Temporal interference stimulation disrupts spike timing in the primate brain.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Causal phase-dependent control of non-spatial attention in human prefrontal cortex.Nature human behaviour · 2024Article
- Induced neural phase precession through exogenous electric fields.Nature communications · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) modulates brain activity by passing electrical current through electrodes that are attached to the scalp. Because it is safe and noninvasive, tACS holds great promise as a tool for basic research and clinical treatment. However, little is known about how tACS ultimately influences neural activity. One hypothesis is that tACS affects neural responses directly, by producing electrical fields that interact with the brain's endogenous electrical activity. By controlling the shape and location of these electric fields, one could target brain regions associated with particular behaviors or symptoms. However, an alternative hypothesis is that tACS affects neural activity indirectly, via peripheral sensory afferents. In particular, it has often been hypothesized that tACS acts on sensory fibers in the skin, which in turn provide rhythmic input to central neurons. In this case, there would be little possibility of targeted brain stimulation, as the regions modulated by tACS would depend entirely on the somatosensory pathways originating in the skin around the stimulating electrodes. Here, we directly test these competing hypotheses by recording single-unit activity in the hippocampus and visual cortex of alert monkeys receiving tACS. We find that tACS entrains neuronal activity in both regions, so that cells fire synchronously with the stimulation. Blocking somatosensory input with a topical anesthetic does not significantly alter these neural entrainment effects. These data are therefore consistent with the direct stimulation hypothesis and suggest that peripheral somatosensory stimulation is not required for tACS to entrain neurons.
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.