CP5-Centered Parietal HD-tACS Is Associated with Improved Performance in a Smartphone-Based Shopping Task in Older Adults: A Behavioral and EEG Investigation.

Overview

1. Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, China; (J.H.); (M.W.); (X.C.); (X.D.)
2. School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
3. Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, Wuhan 430079, China

Abstract

Highlights: What are the main findings?

In Experiment 1, 4-Hz CP5-centered parietal HD-tACS was associated with faster completion under high cognitive load, higher target selection accuracy, a reduced difficulty–time slope, and better 2-back performance in older adults.

In the reduced-trial EEG extension (Experiment 2), active HD-tACS was associated with improved target selection accuracy; exploratory post-stimulation theta-power changes in posterior/parietal regions may have accompanied high-demand target-selection-accuracy improvement.

What are the implications of the main findings?

CP5-centered parietal HD-tACS may support selected working-memory and attentional-control components of performance in a controlled smartphone-based shopping task.

The exploratory EEG findings do not establish online entrainment or a definitive neural mechanism, but motivate larger, better-powered studies at the intersection of neuromodulation, cognitive aging and human–technology interaction.

Abstract: Background/Objectives: Older adults often experience difficulties in smartphone use, especially when digital tasks require goal maintenance, visual search, sequential action, and response verification. Working memory and parietal theta-band activity may support these cognitively demanding operations, but it remains unclear whether a single session of theta-frequency high-definition transcranial alternating current stimulation (HD-tACS), centered over CP5 as a parietal scalp location intended to approximate the left inferior parietal region, is associated with short-term changes in smartphone-task performance in aging. Methods: This study examined performance in a controlled smartphone-based shopping task and exploratory post-stimulation EEG correlates. In Experiment 1, 40 older adults were randomly assigned to active HD-tACS or sham stimulation. In Experiment 2, 28 older adults completed a reduced-trial EEG extension of the same task with electroencephalography (EEG) recording before and after stimulation. Results: Active stimulation improved smartphone-task performance, including faster completion under high cognitive load, higher target selection accuracy, and reduced difficulty–time slope. Working-memory performance on a two-back task was also improved, and individual differences in working-memory gains were associated with improvements in smartphone-task efficiency. Active HD-tACS most strongly improved target selection accuracy, and exploratory post-stimulation theta-power changes in posterior/parietal regions may have accompanied high-demand target-selection-accuracy improvement. These neural findings should be interpreted cautiously because the omnibus EEG effects were trend-level, EEG–behavior correlations were based on a small active-stimulation subgroup, data-quality sensitivity analyses indicated artifact-related instability in theta-power estimates, and the full exploratory EEG–behavior correlation matrix did not survive FDR correction. Conclusions: These findings provide short-term behavioral evidence that CP5-centered parietal HD-tACS may support performance in a cognitively demanding smartphone-based task and motivate further work at the intersection of neuromodulation, cognitive aging, and human–technology interaction.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

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Data

Datasets cited

• osf:4jd3k — at OSF; found in “Data Availability Statement”

Data Availability Statement

The processed data supporting the findings of this study are openly available in OSF at https://osf.io/4jd3k/ (accessed on 1 June 2026).

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

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Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 6 authors, 5 keywords, 1 funder, 56 references.

Cite

This paper

Hu, J., Zhu, Y., Wang, M., Cheng, X., Ding, X., & Fan, Z. (2026). CP5-Centered Parietal HD-tACS Is Associated with Improved Performance in a Smartphone-Based Shopping Task in Older Adults: A Behavioral and EEG Investigation. Brain sciences, 16(7), 678. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci16070678

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