ArticleBiological psychiatry global open science2026
Effects of Alpha Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation on Stress Reactivity and Decision Making: A Randomized Sham-Controlled Trial.
Article in Biological psychiatry global open science, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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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.
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7 authors.
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Abstract
Background: Evidence suggests that alpha-band power plays a crucial role in stress response and decision making (DM). Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is a noninvasive brain stimulation technique capable of modulating brain oscillations in a frequency-specific manner. In this study, we investigated whether alpha tACS (α-tACS), delivered to healthy individuals while they experienced an acute stress situation, would influence biological stress responses and DM performance. Methods: In a double-blind, sham-controlled study, 38 healthy individuals were randomly assigned to receive either α-tACS (2 mA, 30 min, 10 Hz; Results: Compared with sham (mean area under the curve with respect to ground [AUCg] = 76.4, SD = 29.63), α-tACS (mean AUCg = 103.4, SD = 49.08) significantly increased stress-induced cortisol release ( Conclusions: Although some limitations, such as the absence of electroencephalography recordings and high variability in outcomes should be considered, these findings suggest that modulation of prefrontal alpha oscillations via tACS may reduce top-down regulatory control from the PFC, resulting in an enhanced biological stress response. This effect was accompanied by alterations in DM processes, supporting a functional relationship between frontal alpha activity, stress reactivity, and DM. These mechanisms offer promising therapeutic prospects for stress-related disorders like posttraumatic stress disorder, which involve altered alpha-band oscillations and blunted cortisol reactivity.
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