Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34921057›Full record

ArticleeNeuro

Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation Modulates Neural Processing of Sensory and Motor Circuits, from Potential Cellular Mechanisms to Behavior: A Scoping Review.

Weronika Potok, Onno van der Groen, Marc Bächinger, Dylan Edwards, Nicole Wenderoth

Open access · goldAbstract readScoping Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in eNeuro. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
30citing papers in PubMed
2.7field-weighted citation impact, top 9% 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

30 citing papers in PubMed, 44 citations in OpenAlex.

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  8. Safety and Efficacy of Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation in Psychiatric Disorders: A Systematic Review.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026
    Review
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  11. The Hidden Benefits of Noise: Low-Frequency tRNS and Dynamic Visual Noise Enhance Visual Processing.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025
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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

5 authors at 2 institutions in 4 countries.

Weronika PotokNeural Control of Movement Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland weronika.potok@hest.ethz.ch nicole.wenderoth@hest.ethz.ch.ORCID 0000-0002-7593-6749
Onno van der GroenNeurorehabilitation and Robotics Laboratory, School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Western Australia 6027, Australia.
Marc BächingerNeural Control of Movement Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland.
Dylan EdwardsNeurorehabilitation and Robotics Laboratory, School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Western Australia 6027, Australia.
Nicole WenderothNeural Control of Movement Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland weronika.potok@hest.ethz.ch nicole.wenderoth@hest.ethz.ch.ORCID 0000-0002-3246-9386
University of Zurich · CHEdith Cowan University · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Noise introduced in the human nervous system from cellular to systems levels can have a major impact on signal processing. Using transcranial stimulation, electrical noise can be added to cortical circuits to modulate neuronal activity and enhance function in the healthy brain and in neurologic patients. Transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) is a promising technique that is less well understood than other non-invasive neuromodulatory methods. The aim of the present scoping review is to collate published evidence on the effects of electrical noise at the cellular, systems, and behavioral levels, and discuss how this emerging method might be harnessed to augment perceptual and motor functioning of the human nervous system. Online databases were used to identify papers published in 2008-2021 using tRNS in humans, from which we identified 70 publications focusing on sensory and motor function. Additionally, we interpret the existing evidence by referring to articles investigating the effects of noise stimulation in animal and subcellular models. We review physiological and behavioral findings of tRNS-induced offline after-effects and acute online benefits which manifest immediately when tRNS is applied to sensory or motor cortices. We link these results to evidence showing that activity of voltage-gated sodium ion channels might be an important cellular substrate for mediating these tRNS effects. We argue that tRNS might make neural signal transmission and processing within neuronal populations more efficient, which could contribute to both (1) offline after-effects in the form of a prolonged increase in cortical excitability and (2) acute online noise benefits when computations rely on weak inputs.

Indexed as

Cortical ExcitabilityMotor CortexTranscranial Direct Current StimulationHumansNoiseneuromodulationnoise benefitssensory and motor systemsstochastic resonancetranscranial random noise stimulationvoltage-gated sodium ion channels

Identifiers

PMID34921057
PMCPMC8751854
OpenAlexW4200353338

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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.