title: Phasic Modulation of Human Somatosensory Perception by Transcranially Applied Oscillating Currents.
abstract: Why are weak sensory stimuli sometimes perceived and other times not? Experimental paradigms using near-threshold stimuli suggest that spontaneous brain network dynamics are involved in separating relevant from irrelevant information. Recent findings in human visual perception provide evidence that the immediate spontaneous brain state, i.e. the phase of alpha oscillations, predicts whether a coinciding stimulus is further processed or not.
  
  
  
  Here, we investigated whether this concept of a "pulsed inhibition" involved in sensory gating represents a general mechanism of conscious human perception and can be modulated with non-invasive brain stimulation.
  
  
  
  Hence, we used transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at the individualized mu-alpha frequency to entrain somatosensory mu-alpha oscillations, and investigated the effect on somatosensory detection in healthy humans. tACS (or sham, respectively) was applied over primary somatosensory cortices (mu-tACS) while participants performed a detection task of somatosensory near-threshold stimuli.
  
  
  
  We found that mean perception thresholds during mu-tACS did not change as compared to sham stimulation. However, during mu-tACS, somatosensory detection thresholds varied as a function of the applied tACS phase. This effect was not found when tACS was applied over occipital areas at participant's individual visual alpha frequency.
  
  
  
  Our data indicate that tACS applied at an endogenous frequency is capable of modulating human somatosensory perception by inducing phase-dependent periods of excitation and inhibition, i.e. entraining ongoing mu-alpha oscillations. These findings support the idea that the "pulsed inhibition" framework for sensory gating applies to somatosensory mu-alpha oscillations and might therefore represent a general, but sensory-specific mechanism of conscious human perception.
authors.affiliation: Department for Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Institute of Psychology, University of Leipzig, 04109 Leipzig, Germany. Electronic address: christopher.gundlach@uni-leipzig.de.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gundlach
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, University of Leipzig, 04109 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Department for Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Berlin, Freie Universität, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Till
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nierhaus
authors.affiliation: Department for Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Mind-Brain Institute and Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Humboldt-University, 10099 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Neuroimaging Center and Department of Neurology, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany; Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Arno
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Villringer
authors.affiliation: Department for Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sehm
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D058748:Pain Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055139:Sensory Gating / Q000502:physiology; D055698:Touch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Desynchronization; Entrainment; Mu-alpha; Neural oscillations; Somatosensation; Transcranial alternating current stimulation; tACS