Phase of transcranial alternating current stimulation modulates reaction time in working memory tasks

Theta-frequency transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) over prefrontal cortex has been proposed to modulate working memory (WM), yet behavioral effects are often inconsistent. One potential source of variability is the tACS phase during stimulus presentation.

We tested whether behavioral performance during WM depends on the phase of prefrontal theta-tACS.

Twenty participants completed two sessions of prefrontal 4 Hz tACS in a within-subject design, receiving active and sham stimulation in separate sessions. Participants performed a visuospatial change detection task (CDT) and a verbal N-back task. Stimulation effects on overall accuracy and reaction time were analyzed. Subsequently, phase-specific analyses related stimulation phase at task-relevant stimulus presentation to behavioral performance using circular regression models. Preferred phases across participants were tested using Rayleigh tests.

No significant overall effects of active compared with sham tACS on accuracy or reaction time were observed in either task. However, phase-specific analyses revealed stronger phase-dependent modulation of reaction time during active tACS compared with sham. In the CDT, this effect was present across difficulty levels, whereas in the N-back task it was observed only in the 3-back condition. No reliable phase-dependent effects were observed for accuracy. Preferred phases varied across participants and did not cluster around a common phase.

Prefrontal theta-tACS can modulate WM performance in a phase-dependent manner even in the absence of average behavioral effects. The observation of phase-dependent reaction-time modulation across visuospatial and verbal WM tasks suggests that stimulation phase may be a relevant source of variability across cognitive domains.