Gamma tACS over the temporal lobe increases the occurrence of Eureka! moments

Emiliano Santarnecchi, Giulia Sprugnoli, Emanuela Bricolo, Giulio Costantini, Sook-Lei Liew, Christian S Musaeus, Carola Salvi, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Alessandro Rossi, Simone Rossi

35 Citationer (Scopus)

Abstrakt

The solution to a problem might manifest itself as a burst of unexpected, unpredictable clarity. Such Eureka! events, or Insight moments, are among the most fascinating mysteries of human cognition, whose neurophysiological substrate seems to include a role for oscillatory activity within the α and γ bands in the right parietal and temporal brain regions. We tested this hypothesis on thirty-one healthy participants using transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) to externally amplify α (10 Hz) and γ (40 Hz) activity in the right parietal and temporal lobes, respectively. During γ-tACS over the right temporal lobe, we observed an increase in accuracy on a verbal insight task. Furthermore, electroencephalography (EEG) data revealed an increase in γ spectral power over bilateral temporal lobes after stimulation. Additionally, resting-state functional MRI data acquired before the stimulation session suggested a correlation between behavioral response to right temporal lobe tACS and functional connectivity of bilateral temporal lobes, in line with the bilateral increase in γ band revealed by EEG. Overall, results suggest the possibility of enhancing the probability of generating Eureka! moments in humans by means of frequency-specific noninvasive brain stimulation.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
Artikelnummer5778
TidsskriftScientific Reports
Vol/bind9
Udgave nummer1
Sider (fra-til)5778
ISSN2045-2322
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 1 dec. 2019

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