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Updated: Dec 6, 2025

Simultaneous Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Published on: June 5, 2017
Can low-intensity tACS genuinely entrain neural activity in vivo?
Valeriia Beliaeva1, Rafael Polania1
1Neuroscience Center Zurich, Switzerland; Decision Neuroscience Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) was introduced about a decade ago as a non-invasive brain stimulation method to modulate neural oscillations in a relatively safe manner in humans. However, the possibility to induce genuine neural entrainment with low current intensities has been questioned. In a recent study, Johnson and colleagues provide direct evidence for the efficacy of low-intensity tACS to induce neural entrainment in awake monkeys. These findings have important translational implications for human non-invasive neuromodulation research.

