Electric field dynamics in the brain during multi-electrode transcranial electric stimulation

Neural oscillations play a crucial role in communication between remote brain areas. Transcranial electric stimulation with alternating currents (TACS) can manipulate these brain oscillations in a non-invasive manner. Recently, TACS using multiple electrodes with phase shifted stimulation currents were developed to alter long-range connectivity. Typically, an increase in coordination between two areas is assumed when they experience an in-phase stimulation and a disorganization through an anti-phase stimulation. However, the underlying biophysics of multi-electrode TACS has not been studied in detail. Here, we leverage direct invasive recordings from two non-human primates during multi-electrode TACS to characterize electric field magnitude and phase as a function of the phase of stimulation currents. Further, we report a novel “traveling wave” stimulation where the location of the electric field maximum changes over the stimulation cycle. Our results provide a mechanistic understanding of the biophysics of multi-electrode TACS and enable future developments of novel stimulation protocols.