title: Guiding transcranial brain stimulation by EEG/MEG to interact with ongoing brain activity and associated functions: A position paper.
abstract: Non-invasive transcranial brain stimulation (NTBS) techniques have a wide range of applications but also suffer from a number of limitations mainly related to poor specificity of intervention and variable effect size. These limitations motivated recent efforts to focus on the temporal dimension of NTBS with respect to the ongoing brain activity. Temporal patterns of ongoing neuronal activity, in particular brain oscillations and their fluctuations, can be traced with electro- or magnetoencephalography (EEG/MEG), to guide the timing as well as the stimulation settings of NTBS. These novel, online and offline EEG/MEG-guided NTBS-approaches are tailored to specifically interact with the underlying brain activity. Online EEG/MEG has been used to guide the timing of NTBS (i.e., when to stimulate): by taking into account instantaneous phase or power of oscillatory brain activity, NTBS can be aligned to fluctuations in excitability states. Moreover, offline EEG/MEG recordings prior to interventions can inform researchers and clinicians how to stimulate: by frequency-tuning NTBS to the oscillation of interest, intrinsic brain oscillations can be up- or down-regulated. In this paper, we provide an overview of existing approaches and ideas of EEG/MEG-guided interventions, and their promises and caveats. We point out potential future lines of research to address challenges.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK. Electronic address: gregor.thut@glasgow.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Gregor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thut
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology & Stroke, and Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Institute for Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University Hospital Tübingen, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Til Ole
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Bergmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry & Department of Biomedical Engineering & Department of Cell Biology and Physiology & Neuroscience Center & Department of Neurology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA.
authors.forename: Flavio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fröhlich
authors.affiliation: Applied Neurotechnology Lab, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy & MEG Center, University Hospital of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Surjo R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Soekadar
authors.affiliation: Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Charles Wolfson Neuroscience Clinical Research Facility, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: John-Stuart
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Brittain
authors.affiliation: Cerebral Dynamics, Plasticity and Rehabilitation Group, Frontlab, Institut du Cerveau et la Moelle (ICM), CNRS UMR 7225-INSERM U-117, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valero-Cabré
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Alexander T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Sack
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind/Brain Sciences CIMeC University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy & Cognitive Neuroscience Section, IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Miniussi
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, University Medical Center, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Antal
authors.affiliation: Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark; Department of Neurology, Copenhagen University Hospital Bispebjerg, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Hartwig Roman
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Siebner
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology & Stroke, and Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ziemann
authors.affiliation: Experimental Psychology Lab, Department of Psychology, Center for Excellence "Hearing4all", European Medical School, Carl von Ossietzky University & Research Center Neurosensory Science, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Herrmann
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Brain oscillations; Electroencephalography; Magnetoencephalography; Non-invasive transcranial brain stimulation (NTBS); Temporally guided NTBS