New paper by Benjamin Kop on bioRxiv

Our study titled “Auditory confounds can drive online effects of transcranial ultrasonic stimulation in humans” is now posted online on bioRxiv. Across four experiments, one preregistered, at three independent institutions, we employed tightly matched control conditions to disentangle direct neuromodulatory effects of transcranial ultrasonic stimulation (TUS) from those driven by the salient auditory confound in a combined transcranial ultrasonic and magnetic stimulation paradigm.

We replicated motor cortical inhibition following TUS, but showed through both controls and manipulation of stimulation intensity, duration, and auditory masking conditions that this inhibition was driven by peripheral auditory stimulation rather than direct neuromodulation.

This study highlights the substantial impact of the auditory confound, invites a reevaluation of prior findings, and calls for appropriate control conditions in future TUS work. Only when direct effects are disentangled from those driven by peripheral confounds can TUS fully realize its potential for neuroscientific research and clinical applications.

An official preprint of the paper can be found here and a pdf version in our publications section. And if you want to know more, please get in touch with Benjamin or Hanneke!