Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 9, 2025
08:28
Automated Multimodal Stimulation and Simultaneous Neuronal Recording from Multiple Small Organisms
Published on: March 3, 2023
1.1K
Multimodal acoustic-electric trigeminal nerve stimulation modulates conscious perception
Min Wu1, Ryszard Auksztulewicz2, Lars Riecke1
1Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6229 EV Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Neuroimage
|November 29, 2023
Summary
Multimodal acoustic-electric trigeminal nerve stimulation (TNS) enhances tactile conscious perception. This effect, driven by combined acoustic and electrical inputs, may involve changes in neural connectivity, offering new avenues for consciousness research.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Neuromodulation
Background:
- Multimodal stimulation shows promise in treating neuropsychiatric disorders.
- Acoustic-electric trigeminal nerve stimulation (TNS) may improve consciousness in patients with disorders of consciousness, but its mechanisms and reliability are unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of multimodal acoustic-electric TNS on conscious perception in healthy individuals.
- To explore the underlying neural mechanisms of acoustic-electric TNS using computational modeling.
Main Methods:
- Behavioral and neural measures were used in tactile and auditory target-detection tasks before and after stimulation.
- Dynamic causal modeling (DCM) was applied to a neural network model fitted to the collected neural data.
Main Results:
- Acoustic-electric TNS significantly improved conscious tactile perception, but not auditory perception.
- The observed benefits resulted from the synergistic interaction of acoustic and electric stimulation, not from unimodal stimulation alone.
- Changes in inter-regional cortical connections within a recurrent neural network model correlated with the enhancement of conscious perception.
Conclusions:
- Multimodal acoustic-electric TNS can enhance conscious perception.
- Alterations in inter-regional cortical connections are a potential mechanism underlying the consciousness-promoting effects of acoustic-electric TNS.
