Frequency-dependent tuning of the human vestibular "sixth sense" by transcranial oscillatory currents

The vestibular cortex is a multisensory associative region that, in neuroimaging investigations, is activated by slow-frequency (1-2 Hz) galvanic stimulation of peripheral receptors. We aimed to directly activate the vestibular cortex with biophysically modeled transcranial oscillatory current stimulation (tACS) in the same frequency range.

Thirty healthy subjects and one rare patient with chronic bilateral vestibular deafferentation underwent, in a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial, to tACS at slow (1 or 2 Hz) or higher (10 Hz) frequency and sham stimulations, over the Parieto-Insular Vestibular Cortex (PIVC), while standing on a stabilometric platform. Subjective symptoms of motion sickness were scored by Simulator Sickness Questionnaire and subjects' postural sways were monitored on the platform.

tACS at 1 and 2 Hz induced symptoms of motion sickness, oscillopsia and postural instability, that were supported by posturographic sway recordings. Both 10 Hz-tACS and sham stimulation on the vestibular cortex did not affect vestibular function. As these effects persisted in a rare patient with bilateral peripheral vestibular areflexia documented by the absence of the Vestibular-Ocular Reflex, the possibility of a current spread toward peripheral afferents is unlikely. Conversely, the 10 Hz-tACS significantly reduced his chronic vestibular symptoms in this patient.

Weak electrical oscillations in a frequency range corresponding to the physiological cortical activity of the vestibular system may generate motion sickness and postural sways, both in healthy subjects and in the case of bilateral vestibular deafferentation.

This should be taken into account as a new side effect of tACS in future studies addressing cognitive functions. Higher frequencies of stimulation applied to the vestibular cortex may represent a new interventional option to reduce motion sickness in different scenarios.