RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Improved Cognitive Promotion through Accelerated Magnetic Stimulation
JF eneuro
JO eNeuro
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP ENEURO.0392-20.2020
DO 10.1523/ENEURO.0392-20.2020
VO 8
IS 1
A1 Xingqi Wu
A1 Lu Wang
A1 Zhi Geng
A1 Ling Wei
A1 Yibing Yan
A1 Chengjuan Xie
A1 Xingui Chen
A1 Gong-Jun Ji
A1 Yanghua Tian
A1 Kai Wang
YR 2021
UL http://www.eneuro.org/content/8/1/ENEURO.0392-20.2020.abstract
AB Noninvasive brain stimulation to enhance cognition is an area of increasing research interest. Theta burst stimulation (TBS) is a novel accelerated form of stimulation, which more closely mimics the brain’s natural firing patterns and may have greater effects on cognitive performance. We report here the comparative assessment of the effect of conventional high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (HF-rTMS) protocols and TBS protocols on cognition enhancement in healthy controls. Sixty healthy adults (34 males and 26 females) were randomized and counterbalanced and assigned to HF-rTMS (n = 20), TBS (n = 20), or sham (n = 20) groups. The promotion effects of different parameters of prefrontal stimulation on working memory and executive function were compared, as assessed by performance in N-back tasks and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Both HF-rTMS and intermittent TBS (iTBS) groups displayed a significant improvement in N-back tasks, with an effect size of 0.79 and 1.50, respectively. Furthermore, the iTBS group displayed a significant improvement in the WCST, with an effect size of 0.84. The iTBS group demonstrated higher effect sizes than the HF-rTMS group (t = 2.68, p = 0.011), with an effect size of 0.85. However, no improvement in other tasks was observed (p > 0.05). Intermittent TBS has a stronger cognitive promoting effect than conventional rTMS. In summary, our findings provide direct evidence that iTBS may be a superior protocol for cognitive promotion.