ORCID
- Nadège Bault: 0000-0001-8244-6062
- Elsa F Fouragnan: 0000-0003-1485-0332
Abstract
Precisely neuromodulating deep brain regions could bring transformative advancements in both neuroscience and treatment. We demonstrate that non-invasive transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) can selectively modulate deep brain activity and affect learning and decision making, comparable to deep brain stimulation (DBS). We tested whether TUS could causally influence neural and behavioural responses by targeting the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) using a reinforcement learning task. Twenty-six healthy adults completed a within-subject TUS-fMRI experiment with three conditions: TUS to the NAcc, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), or Sham. After TUS, participants performed a probabilistic learning task during fMRI. TUS-NAcc altered BOLD responses to reward expectation in the NAcc and surrounding areas. It also affected reward-related behaviours, including win-stay strategy use, learning rate following rewards, learning curves, and repetition rates of rewarded choices. DBS-NAcc perturbed the same features, confirming target engagement. These findings establish TUS as a viable approach for non-invasive deep-brain neuromodulation.
DOI Link
Publication Date
2025-11-27
Publication Title
Nature Communications
Volume
16
Issue
1
ISSN
2041-1723
Acceptance Date
2025-10-03
Deposit Date
2025-12-03
Keywords
Humans, Nucleus Accumbens/physiology, Reward, Male, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Adult, Female, Deep Brain Stimulation/methods, Young Adult, Gyrus Cinguli/physiology, Decision Making/physiology, Learning/physiology
Recommended Citation
Yaakub, S., Eraifej, J., Bault, N., Lojkiewiez, M., Bellec, E., Roberts, J., Philip, N., Divanbeighi Zand, A., Green, A., Rushworth, M., & Fouragnan, E. (2025) 'Non-invasive ultrasonic neuromodulation of the human nucleus accumbens impacts reward sensitivity', Nature Communications, 16(1). Available at: 10.1038/s41467-025-65080-9
