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- All Subjects: Neuromodulation
- Creators: Tyler, William J
- Creators: Tanner, Justin
In this experiment Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) scores are recorded daily to monitor mood differences between pre and post treatment (TENS vs Sham). PANAS scores were found to be insignificant between groups. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Fitbit were chosen to study perceived sleep, and objective sleep. Both PSQI, and Fitbit found insignificant differences between TENS and Sham. Finally, the Beck Depression and Beck Anxiety Inventories were administered weekly to determine if there are immediate changes to depressive and anxiety symptom, after a week of treatment (TENS vs Sham). A significant difference was found between the pre and post of the TENS treatment group. The TENS group was not found to be significantly different from Sham, potentially the result of a placebo effect. These results were found with n=10 participants in the TENS treatment group and n=6 in the sham group.
Lack of proprioceptive feedback is one cause for the high upper-limb prosthesis abandonment rate. The lack of environmental interaction normalcy from unreliable proprioception creates dissatisfaction among prosthesis users. The purpose of this experiment is to investigate the effects of square breathing on learning to navigate without reliable proprioception. Square breathing is thought to influence the vagus nerve which is linked to increased learning rates. In this experiment, participants were instructed to reach toward targets in a semi-immersive virtual reality environment. Directional error, peak velocity, and peak acceleration of the reaching hand were investigated before and after participants underwent square breathing training. As the results of<br/>this experiment are inconclusive, further investigation needs to be done with larger sample sizes and examining unperturbed data to fully understand the effects of square breathing on learning new motor strategies in unreliable proprioceptive conditions.
This study observed the effects of three different non-invasive nerve stimulation paradigms in human participants. The first study analyzed the safety and efficacy of transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation in healthy humans using a bilateral stimulation protocol with uniquely designed dry-hydrogel electrodes. Results demonstrate bilateral auricular vagal nerve stimulation has significant effects on specific parameters of autonomic activity and is safe and well tolerated. The second study analyzed the effects of non-invasive electrical stimulation of a region on the side of the neck that contains the Great Auricular Nerve and the Auricular Branch of the Vagus Nerve called the tympanomastoid fissure on golf hitting performance in healthy golfers. Results did not show significant effects on hitting performance or physiological activity, but the nerve stimulation had significant effects on reducing state-anxiety and improving the quality of feel of each shot. The third study analyzed the effects of non-invasive nerve stimulation of cervical nerves on the back of the neck on putting performance of yips-affected golfers. Results demonstrated that cervical nerve stimulation had significant effects on improving putting performance but did not have significant effects on physiological activity. Data from these studies show there are potential applications for non-invasive electrical nerve stimulation for healthy and athletic populations. Future research should also examine the effects of these stimulation methods in clinical populations.