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The authors declare that financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PID2021-122979OB-C21). Complimentarily, it was supported by predoctoral grants by the Spanish Ministry of Universities (FPU18/00517) to Martin Carrasco-Gomez, (PRE2019-087612) to Alejandra Garcia-Colomo, and (FPU2019/04251) to Jesus Cabrera-& Aacute;lvarez, and by Universidad Complutense de Madrid (CT58/21-CT59/21) to Alberto del Cerro-Leon, which was cofounded by Santander bank. This work was supported by the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 101058516 (eBRAIN-Health).

Analysis of institutional authors

Carrasco-Gomez, MartinCorresponding Author

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June 3, 2025
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Individual alpha frequency tACS reduces static functional connectivity across the default mode network

Publicated to:Frontiers In Human Neuroscience. 19 1534321- - 2025-05-14 19(), DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2025.1534321

Authors: Carrasco-Gomez, Martin; Garcia-Colomo, Alejandra; Cabrera-Alvarez, Jesus; del Cerro-Leon, Alberto; Gomez-Ariza, Carlos J; Santos, Andres; Maestu, Fernando

Affiliations

Hlth Res Inst Hosp Clin San Carlos IdISSC, Madrid, Spain - Author
Inst Salud Carlos III, CIBER Bioingn Biomat & Nanomed CIBER BBN, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Complutense Madrid, Ctr Cognit & Computat Neurosci, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Complutense Madrid, Dept Expt Psychol Cognit Psychol & Speech & Langua, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Jaen, Dept Psychol, Jaen, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Dept Elect Engn, ETS Ingn Telecomunicac, Madrid, Spain - Author
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Abstract

Introduction Research on the influence of transcranial alternating current stimulation over alpha functional connectivity (FC) is scarce, even when it poses as a potential treatment for various diseases. This study aimed to investigate the effects of individual alpha frequency tACS (IAF-tACS) on FC within the default mode network (DMN) in healthy individuals, particularly following the triple network model.Materials and methods 27 healthy participants were recruited, who underwent a 20-min IAF-tACS session over parieto-occipital areas and three magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings: two pre-stimulation and one post-stimulation. Participants were randomly assigned to either the stimulation or sham group. Both dynamic FC (dFC) and static FC (sFC) were evaluated through the leakage corrected amplitude envelope correlation (AEC-c). Statistical analyses compared both Pre-Post FC ratio between groups through ratio t-tests and intragroup FC changes through repeated measures t-tests, with FDR correction applied to account for multiple comparisons. An additional analysis simulated the influence of the cortical folding on the effect of tACS over FC.Results IAF-tACS significantly decreased sFC in intra- and inter-DMN links in the stimulation group compared to the sham group, with a special influence over antero-posterior links between hubs of the DMN. Negative correlations were found between AEC-c sFC changes and power alterations in posterior DMN areas, suggesting a complex interaction between cortical folding and electric field direction. On the other hand, dFC increased in both sham and stimulation groups, and no between-group differences were found.Conclusion Against our initial hypothesis, IAF-tACS reduced sFC in the DMN, possibly due to phase disparities introduced by cortical gyrification. These findings suggest that tACS might modulate FC in a more complex manner than previously thought, highlighting the need for further research into the personalized application of neuromodulation techniques, as well as its potential therapeutic implications for conditions like Alzheimer's disease.

Keywords

Alternating-current stimulationCortical foldingExcitabilitFunctional connectivityIndividual alpha frequencIndividual alpha frequencyMagnetoencephalographyTacs

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Frontiers In Human Neuroscience due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2025, it was in position 174/314, thus managing to position itself as a Q2 (Segundo Cuartil), in the category Neurosciences. Notably, the journal is positioned en el Cuartil Q2 para la agencia Scopus (SJR) en la categoría .

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-08-21:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 6.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 6 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 3.35.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 8 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (CARRASCO GOMEZ, MARTIN) .

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been CARRASCO GOMEZ, MARTIN.