Theta burst entrainment of human EEG using flickering light stimulation

Theta burst stimulation (TBS) is a well-established technique in brain stimulation, with broad applications across neuroscience, rehabilitation, and psychiatry. Traditionally, TBS is delivered via transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which, while effective, is costly and requires professional oversight. In this study, we demonstrate that sensory stimulation-specifically, flickering light delivered in a theta burst pattern-can also induce robust neural entrainment. Participants viewed an LED light panel positioned 40 cm away across three sequential phases: a 3-min prestimulation baseline, a 5-min online stimulation period, and a 5-min poststimulation observation. Consistent with findings from the TMS literature (outside the motor cortex), continuous TBS elicited strong theta-band EEG entrainment, whereas intermittent TBS produced minimal or no entrainment. These results provide the first evidence, using online and offline EEG, that sensory stimulation can mimic key features of TBS-induced entrainment. This paves the way for future clinical and neuroscientific applications of sensory TBS for neural entrainment.<b>NEW & NOTEWORTHY</b> Noninvasive sensory stimulation holds great potential for enhancing cognition, as well as treating neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases/disorders. However, all attempts to date have only used one single frequency. In this study, we used sensory stimulation to deliver theta burst stimulation (TBS), a complex theta-gamma waveform that is known to be effective for modulating neural activities, enhancing cognition, and treating depression. We show that sensory stimulation can deliver TBS accurately, with EEG evidence.