ArticleCommunications biology2021
Cervical transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation (ctVNS) improves human cognitive performance under sleep deprivation stress.
Article in Communications biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. It is linked to trial NCT06892340 (A Non-Invasive, Non-Sedating Device to Mitigate Motion Sickness and Spatial Disorientation), which is not on this map. Cited by 45 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
A Non-Invasive, Non-Sedating Device to Mitigate Motion Sickness and Spatial Disorientation
Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation may improve cognitive deficits in neuropsychiatric diseases-a systematic review.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- Transcutaneous and transcranial electrical stimulation for enhancing military performance: an update and systematic review.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Transcutaneous Cervical Vagus Nerve Stimulation Improves Speech Comprehension in Noise: A Crossover, Placebo-Controlled Study.Neuromodulation : journal of the International Neuromodulation Society · 2025Trial
- Transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation improves sensory performance in humans: a randomized controlled crossover pilot study.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Effect of transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation on declarative and working memory in patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): A pilot study.Journal of affective disorders · 2023Trial
- Article
- Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment: Current Evidence and Future Directions.NeuroSci · 2026Review
- The effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on vigilance, cognition, and mood during military exercise with acute sleep deprivation.Cognitive research: principles and implications · 2026Article
- Article
- A Review of Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Disease: Comprehensive Theory and Evidence for Mechanisms of Action.Comprehensive physiology · 2026Review
- Cognitive neurobehavior and synaptic plasticity after vagus nerve stimulation in female rats: Interaction between estrous cycle and neurostimulation.Bioelectronic medicine · 2026Article
- Without getting under your skin: non-invasive stimulation activates the vagus nerve.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in breast cancer: a neuroimmune model to improve quality of life.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation (tcVNS) does not enhance learning and memory performance in a visual detection task.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Human augmentation to deliver an enhanced and resilient people capability for Defence.BMJ military health · 2025Review
- Exploring the impact of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in subjects with and without burnout: Potential benefits for executive function and neural processing.Neuroimage. Reports · 2025Article
- Efficacy and safety of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation plus pregabalin for radiotherapy-related neuropathic pain in patients with head and neck cancer (RELAX): a phase 2 randomised trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation improves speech comprehension in noise: A crossover, placebo-controlled study.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation Enhances Probabilistic Learning.Psychophysiology · 2025Article
- Neurotechnology for enhancing human operation of robotic and semi-autonomous systems.Frontiers in robotics and AI · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Fatigue is a pervasive public health and safety issue. Common fatigue countermeasures include caffeine or other chemical stimulants. These can be effective in limited circumstances but other non-pharmacological fatigue countermeasures such as non-invasive electrical neuromodulation have shown promise. It is reasonable to suspect that other types of non-invasive neuromodulation may be similarly effective or perhaps even superior. The objective of this research was to evaluate the efficacy of cervical transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation (ctVNS) to mitigate the negative effects of fatigue on cognition and mood. Two groups (active or sham stimulation) of twenty participants in each group completed 34 h of sustained wakefulness. The ctVNS group performed significantly better on arousal, multi-tasking, and reported significantly lower fatigue ratings compared to sham for the duration of the study. CtVNS could be a powerful fatigue countermeasure tool that is easy to administer, long-lasting, and has fewer side-effects compared to common pharmacological interventions.
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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.