Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether vagus nerve stimulation influences cognitive flexibility and creativity.
Methods: Ten subjects, in whom vagus nerve stimulators had been implanted for the treatment of intractable seizures, performed tasks that assessed cognitive flexibility (solving anagrams), creativity (Torrance Test), and memory (Hopkins Verbal Learning Test) during actual and sham vagus nerve stimulation.
Results: Vagus nerve stimulation impaired cognitive flexibility and creativity, but these results could not be explained by the induction of a general encephalopathy because VNS did not impair learning and improved retention.
Conclusions: The means by which vagus nerve stimulation impairs cognitive flexibility and creative thinking is probably related to increased activity of the locus coeruleus-central adrenergic system that increases the signal-to-noise ratio and improves the brain's ability to attend to sensory input, but decreases its ability to recruit large-scale networks.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2006.03.008 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Introducing the Index of Response to Stimulation (IRES): A Novel Metric for Assessing Vagus Nerve Stimulation Outcomes in Drug-Resistant Epilepsy.
Medicina (Kaunas)
January 2025
Department of Neurosurgery, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila", 030147 Bucharest, Romania.
: The Index of Response to Stimulation (IRES) is a new index that we introduce in this study to grade the effectiveness of vagus nerve stimulation in the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy. We assessed 76 patients at 6, 12, and 18 months after VNS evaluating improvement with the IRES in four key dimensions: seizure duration decrease, seizure intensity decrease, improvement in quality of life, and seizure frequency decrease. This scale goes from 0, meaning no improvement, to 8, meaning maximal improvement, making the scale a really good measure of clinical utility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLiver-innervating vagal sensory neurons are indispensable for the development of hepatic steatosis and anxiety-like behavior in diet-induced obese mice.
Nat Commun
January 2025
The Fleischer Institute for Diabetes and Metabolism, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, USA.
The visceral organ-brain axis, mediated by vagal sensory neurons, is essential for maintaining various physiological functions. Here, we investigate the impact of liver-projecting vagal sensory neurons on energy balance, hepatic steatosis, and anxiety-like behavior in mice under obesogenic conditions. A small subset of vagal sensory neurons innervate the liver and project centrally to the nucleus of the tractus solitarius, area postrema, and dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus, and peripherally to the periportal areas in the liver.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDysphonia and Laryngopharyngeal Reflux.
Otolaryngol Clin North Am
January 2025
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Illinois Health and Hospital System, 1009 S. Wood Street, Suite 6C, Chicago, IL 60616, USA.
Dysphonia is a common symptom of laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD) and requires multimodal, patient-centered care to address. Challenges in diagnosing LPRD can also complicate treatment of nonspecific dysphonia symptoms. Careful history taking with sensitivity to cultural lifestyle components in each patient is critical to management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSubdiaphragmatic vagotomy reduces hypothalamic oxytocin expression and blood levels after oral MDMA administration in male rats.
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry
January 2025
Chiba University Center for Forensic Mental Health, Chiba 260-8670, Japan. Electronic address:
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a widely recognized entactogen frequently used recreationally. It is known for its interaction with the serotonin and oxytocin systems, which underlie its entactogenic effects in humans. Recently, we demonstrated that the gut-brain axis, mediated by the subdiaphragmatic vagus nerve, contributes to MDMA-induced resilience enhancement in rodents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAuricular vagus nerve stimulation for mitigation of inflammation and vasospasm in subarachnoid hemorrhage: a single-institution randomized controlled trial.
J Neurosurg
January 2025
Departments of1Neurosurgery.
Objective: Inflammation contributes to morbidity following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). The authors of this study evaluate how applying noninvasive transauricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) can target this deleterious inflammatory response following SAH and reduce the rate of radiographic vasospasm.
Methods: In this prospective, triple-blinded, randomized controlled trial, 27 patients were randomized to taVNS or sham stimulation.
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!