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Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation enhances emotional
processing and episodic memory: a conceptual replication
Abstract
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Recently, we found that continuous transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve
stimulation (taVNS) facilitates the encoding and later recollection of
emotionally relevant information, as indicated by enhanced late positive
potential (LPP), memory performance, and late ERP Old/New effect. Here,
we aimed to conceptually replicate and extend these findings by
investigating the effects of different time-dependent taVNS stimulation
protocols. In Study 1, an identical paradigm to our previous study was
employed with interval stimulation (30-sec on/off). Participants viewed
unpleasant and neutral scenes on two consecutive days while receiving
taVNS or sham stimulation and completed a recognition test one week
later. In line with our previous results, unpleasant images encoded
under taVNS, compared to sham stimulation, elicited larger LPP
amplitudes and Old/New effects. However, no effects of taVNS on memory
performance were found, suggesting that interval stimulation may lower
the effects of taVNS on memory. In Study 2, we followed up on these
findings by synchronizing the stimulation cycle with image presentation
to determine the taVNS effects for images encoded during the on and off
cycles. We could replicate the enhancing effects of taVNS on brain
potentials (LPP and late Old/New effect) and found that taVNS improved
recollection-based memory performance for both unpleasant and neutral
images, independently of the stimulation cycle. Overall, our results
suggest that taVNS increases electrophysiological correlates of
emotional encoding and retrieval in a time-independent manner,
substantiating the vagus nerve’s role in emotional processing and memory
formation and opening new venues for improving mnemonic processes in
both clinical and non-clinical populations.