Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38089412›Full record

ArticleGeneral psychiatry2023

Modulatory effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) on attentional processes.

Yuxin Chen, Haoyu Yang, Faguang Wang, Xuejing Lu, Li Hu

Open access · diamondAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in General psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.8field-weighted citation impact, top 14% 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

14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
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  5. Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Facilitates Cortical Arousal and Alertness.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023
    Trial
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. How does oxytocin modulate human behavior?Molecular psychiatry · 2025
    Review
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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 1 country.

Yuxin ChenCAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Haoyu YangCAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Faguang WangSchool of Intelligent Manufacturing, Wenzhou Polytechnic, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Xuejing LuCAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Li HuCAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.ORCID 0000-0001-7003-2903
Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences · CNWenzhou Polytechnic · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: The modulatory effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) on attention has varied in previous studies. This inconsistency might be attributed to the combined influence of the modulation effect on the different attentional functions, including alerting, orienting and executive control. Aims: We aimed to preliminarily examine the modulatory effects of taVNS on different attentional functions. Methods: Fifty-nine healthy participants were recruited and were randomly assigned to taVNS (receiving taVNS for 20 minutes) or control (receiving taVNS for 30 seconds) groups. All participants underwent a dot-probe task before and after the taVNS/control intervention. Their behavioural performance and electroencephalographic signals during pre- and post-tests were recorded, and different observed variables were extracted and analysed to characterise different attentional systems. Results: We observed that active taVNS applied at the left ear significantly improved the overall behavioural performance, that is, shorter reaction time (RT) and lower intra-individual reaction time variability (IIRTV) for right-hand responses when compared with the control condition. In addition, active taVNS resulted in larger P3 and movement-related cortical potential (MRCP) amplitudes associated with right-hand reactions than the control condition. Active taVNS also decreased the difference between the pre- and post-tests in the power spectral density of spontaneous high-α band oscillations at C4 electrode. Importantly, parallel mediation models for right-hand responses showed that the change of P3 amplitude mediated the effects of taVNS on RT and IIRTV. In contrast, the change of MRCP amplitude suppressed the effect of taVNS on the IIRTV. Conclusions: Our results provided behavioural and brain evidence supporting the effects of taVNS on different attentional systems, and their interaction further shaped behavioural performance, suggesting a promising role of taVNS in cognitive enhancement.

Indexed as

braincognitive neuroscienceexecutive functionnervous system

Identifiers

PMID38089412
PMCPMC10711811
OpenAlexW4389397008

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
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.