Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33796985›Full record

ArticleCognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience2021

Enhancement of semantic integration reasoning by tRNS.

G Sprugnoli, S Rossi, S L Liew, E Bricolo, G Costantini, C Salvi, A J Golby, C S Musaeus, A Pascual-Leone, A Rossi and 1 more

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
0.5field-weighted citation impact, top 42% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. [A review of noninvasive brain-computer interfaces combined with transcranial electrical stimulation for neural rehabilitation].Sheng wu yi xue gong cheng xue za zhi = Journal of biomedical engineering = Shengwu yixue gongchengxue zazhi · 2026
    Review
  2. The white matter of Aha! moments.BMC psychology · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 8 institutions in 4 countries.

G SprugnoliDepartment of Medicine, Surgery and Neuroscience, Siena Brain Investigation & Neuromodulation Laboratory, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.
S RossiDepartment of Medicine, Surgery and Neuroscience, Siena Brain Investigation & Neuromodulation Laboratory, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.
S L LiewChan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
E BricoloPsychology Department, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy.
G CostantiniPsychology Department, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy.
C SalviDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA.
A J GolbyDepartment of Neurosurgery, Image guided Neurosurgery laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
C S MusaeusDepartment of Neurology, Danish Dementia Research Centre (DDRC), Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
A Pascual-LeoneHinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research and Center for Memory Health, Hebrew SeniorLife, Boston, MA, USA.
A RossiDepartment of Medicine, Surgery and Neuroscience, Siena Brain Investigation & Neuromodulation Laboratory, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.
E SantarnecchiBerenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Beth Israel Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. esantarn@bidmc.harvard.edu.
University of Siena · ITUniversity of Milano-Bicocca · ITBerenson Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation · USBrigham and Women's Hospital · USInstitut Guttmann · ESRigshospitalet · DKThe University of Texas at Austin · USUniversity of Southern California · US

Funding

The Role of Inflammation in the Pathophysiology of Delirium and its Associated Long-Term Cognitive DeclineP01AG031720 · NIA · HEBREW REHABILITATION CENTER FOR AGED · PI SHAFI, MOUHSIN · 2010 to 2022
$26.7M
Gamma Induction for Amyloid Clearance in Alzheimer’s DiseaseR01AG060981 · NIA · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI SANTARNECCHI, EMILIANO · 2019 to 2023
$3.5M
The Development and Human Translation of Temporal Interference Brain StimulationR01MH117063 · NIMH · BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER · PI PRESS, DANIEL Z. · 2018 to 2021
$2.8M
NIA NIH HHS P01 AG031720NIA NIH HHS R01 AG060981NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH117063
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The right hemisphere is involved with the integrative processes necessary to achieve global coherence during reasoning and discourse processing. Specifically, the right temporal lobe has been proven to facilitate the processing of distant associate relationships, such as generating novel ideas. Previous studies showed a specific swing of alpha and gamma oscillatory activity over the right parieto-occipital lobe and the right anterior temporal lobe respectively, when people solve semantic problems with a specific strategy, i.e., insight problem-solving. In this study, we investigated the specificity of the right parietal and temporal lobes for semantic integration using transcranial Random Noise Stimulation (tRNS). We administered a set of pure semantics (i.e., Compound Remote Associates [CRA]) and visuo-semantic problems (i.e., Rebus Puzzles) to a sample of 31 healthy volunteers. Behavioral results showed that tRNS stimulation over the right temporal lobe enhances CRA accuracy (+12%), while stimulation on the right parietal lobe causes a decrease of response time on the same task (-2,100 ms). No effects were detected for Rebus Puzzles. Our findings corroborate the involvement of the right temporal and parietal lobes when solving purely semantic problems but not when they involve visuo-semantic material, also providing causal evidence for their postulated different roles in the semantic integration process and promoting tRNS as a candidate tool to boost verbal reasoning in humans.

Indexed as

SemanticsTranscranial Direct Current StimulationHumansParietal LobeProblem SolvingTemporal LobeCreativityNeuromodulationProblem-solvingReasoningSemantic integrationtRNS

Identifiers

PMID33796985
PMCPMC8976450
OpenAlexW3152022481

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.