AUTHOR=Kwon Jeongwook , Min Byoung-Kyong 

TITLE=Deep learning-based electroencephalic decoding of the phase-lagged transcranial alternating current stimulation

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 19 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2025.1545726

DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2025.1545726

ISSN=1662-5161

ABSTRACT=We investigated whether the phase-lag types of cross-frequency coupled alternating current stimulation (CFC-tACS), a non-invasive technique aimed at enhancing cognitive functions, could be decoded using task-based electroencephalographic (EEG) signals. EEG recordings were obtained from 21 healthy individuals engaged in a modified Sternberg task. CFC-tACS was administered online for 6 s during the middle of the retention period with either a 45° or 180° phase lag between the central executive network and the default mode network. To decode different phase-lag tACS conditions, we trained a modified EEGNet using task-based EEG signals before and after the online tACS application. When utilizing parietal EEG signals, the model achieved a decoding accuracy of 81.73%. Feature maps predominantly displayed EEG beta activity in the parietal region, suggesting that the model heavily weighted the beta band, indicative of top-down cognitive control influenced by tACS phase-lag type. Thus, EEG signals can decode online stimulation types, and task-related EEG spectral characteristics may indicate neuromodulatory activity during brain stimulation. This study could advance communicative strategies in brain–machine interfacing (BMI)-neuromodulation within a closed-loop system.