1000 Section - Exploring peripheral stimulation techniques as a tool for influencing brain activity in healthy participants: an EEG study

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

6:00 PM - 7:30 PM PT

Presenting Author/Autor expositor(s)

MB

Marie-Michele Briand, MD

Physician/PhD student
Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Co-Author(s)

AA

Amélie Apinis-Deshaies, PhD

Reasearch assistant
Research Center of Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
RC

Raphaëlle Creniault, M.Sc.

Reasearch assistant
Research Center of Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
JP

Jaden Thomas Pantazis, n/a

Reasearch assistant
Research Center of Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
SG

Samuel Guay, M.Sc.

Reasearch assistant
Research Center of Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
LD

Louis De Beaumont, PhD

Principal Investigator
Research Center of Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Objectives : Patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC) typically show diffuse low‑frequency EEG activity and a lack of alpha activity (8–12 Hz), reflecting severe brain dysfunction. Despite the efficacy of non‑invasive brain stimulation techniques in increasing alpha power, their applicability in this population is often limited by common clinical contraindications. As a first step, this study aimed to identify which bedside‑applicable peripheral stimulation techniques could effectively produce changes in brain activity in healthy participants.

Design: In this observational study, three peripheral stimulations were tested in separate sessions: 1) binaural beat (400/410Hz), 2) 10Hz auditory clicks; and 3) 10Hz median nerve stimulation at the right wrist. Twenty-two healthy participants were recruited per condition. Each protocol consisted of 13 cycles of 1-minute stimulation alternating with 30-second rest periods. Resting-state EEG was recorded for 3 minutes before and after stimulation with eyes open. EEG data were preprocessed by MNE-Python, and power spectral density was estimated with Welch’s method on normalized data across standard frequency bands. To identify meaningful patterns rather than random fluctuations, we used a cluster-based statistical method that looks for groups of neighboring electrodes showing consistent change post- vs pre-stimulation. Significant clusters were identified at p<0.05 with false discovery rate correction applied across frequency bands.

Results: Preliminary analyses showed that 10Hz binaural beat and auditory clicks stimulation did not produce any significant pre-post changes across all bands. In contrast, median nerve stimulation was associated with a significant increase in beta power (q=0.01) in the eyes-open condition.

Conclusion: Peripheral stimulation induced limited EEG spectral power modulation, suggesting that the tested parameters might have been sub-optimal for eliciting robust alpha-band changes. These findings highlight the need to systematically refine stimulation parameters and suggest that short‑duration median nerve stimulation warrants further investigation.