JPBS

Recent advances have demonstrated that magnetic stimulation provides an effective and noninvasive way to enhance neurological functioning across multiple cognitive and motor domains. The present study extends this work by investigating the potential of magnetic fields to enhance human vigilance, measured via heart rate variability (HRV). In a sham-controlled study, HRV signal was analyzed across both the time and frequency domains for 15 participants as they were exposed to magnetic stimulation. Our findings demonstrate that magnetic stimulation is capable of fortifying vigilance, as indexed by several key HRV components: increased RR variability, decreased root-mean-square of successive difference-value (RMSSD), reduced low frequency (LF) signal power, and increased high frequency (HF) signal power. Given the indication that magnetic stimuli are indeed capable of improving these key correlates of vigilance, we discuss several important implications.

Heart Rate Variability; Magnetic Stimuli; Vigilance