Differential effects of primary motor cortex and cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation on motor learning in healthy individuals: A randomized double-blind sham-controlled study

Ehsani, Fatemeh; Bakhtiary, A.H.; Jaberzadeh, Shapour; Talimkhani, Ailin; Hajihasani, Abdolhamid

doi:10.1016/j.neures.2016.06.003

Cited by 59 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(87 reference statements)

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“…Indeed we showed that modulatory effects of these connections were significantly smaller in patients and did not differ between conditions, probably due to the degeneration in cerebellum. Recent studies in healthy controls have shown that modulation of cerebellar activity using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can influence motor learning behavior (Block and Celnik, 2013, Cantarero et al, 2015, Ehsani et al, 2016, Ferrucci et al, 2013, Galea et al, 2011, Herzfeld et al, 2014, Shimizu et al, 2017). Specifically, this effect has been shown to be polarity specific; anodal tDCS to cerebellum is thought to enhance neuronal excitability and was shown to enhance learning whereas the opposite effect was evident in some studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cerebellar degeneration affects cortico-cortical connectivity in motor learning networks

Tzvi

Zimmermann

Bey

et al. 2017

NeuroImage: Clinical

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The cerebellum plays an important role in motor learning as part of a cortico-striato-cerebellar network. Patients with cerebellar degeneration typically show impairments in different aspects of motor learning, including implicit motor sequence learning. How cerebellar dysfunction affects interactions in this cortico-striato-cerebellar network is poorly understood. The present study investigated the effect of cerebellar degeneration on activity in causal interactions between cortical and subcortical regions involved in motor learning. We found that cerebellar patients showed learning-related increase in activity in two regions known to be involved in learning and memory, namely parahippocampal cortex and cerebellar Crus I. The cerebellar activity increase was observed in non-learners of the patient group whereas learners showed an activity decrease. Dynamic causal modeling analysis revealed that modulation of M1 to cerebellum and putamen to cerebellum connections were significantly more negative for sequence compared to random blocks in controls, replicating our previous results, and did not differ in patients. In addition, a separate analysis revealed a similar effect in connections from SMA and PMC to M1 bilaterally. Again, neural network changes were associated with learning performance in patients. Specifically, learners showed a negative modulation from right SMA to right M1 that was similar to controls, whereas this effect was close to zero in non-learners. These results highlight the role of cerebellum in motor learning and demonstrate the functional role cerebellum plays as part of the cortico-striato-cerebellar network.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cerebellar degeneration affects cortico-cortical connectivity in motor learning networks

Tzvi

Zimmermann

Bey

et al. 2017

NeuroImage: Clinical

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“…In further support of this notion, delayed effects have been demonstrated even in the absence of immediate effects. For example, there have been rapid consolidation effects where group differences only begin to emerge in the minutes or hours after stimulation, or become stronger/more robust with time (e.g., Clark et al 2012;Ehsani et al 2016;Hoy et al 2014;Javadi and Cheng 2013;Penolazzi et al 2013;Reis et al 2015). Similarly, overnight consolidation has been enhanced when performance is measured the next day, despite a lack of group differences on day 1 (Koyama et al 2015;Martin et al 2014), and even cognitive training studies that failed to show immediate tDCS-related enhancements have still demonstrated greater tDCS-related retention a couple months later (Jones et al 2015;Martin et al 2013;Stephens and Berryhill 2016).…”

Section: Experimental Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Protocols to Promote Long-Term Learning

Karsten

Buschkuehl

et al. 2017

J Cogn Enhanc

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Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a form of non-invasive brain stimulation that has the potential to induce polarity-specific changes in neural activity within targeted brain regions. There is growing interest in the use of this technology for the enhancement of higher cognitive functions, and application of tDCS directly before or concomitant with task performance has shown promise in modulating a range of behavioral outcomes, including motor skill acquisition, working memory performance, and implicit and explicit learning. The proposed mechanism for the observed enhancements is a temporary and targeted shift in the excitability of the cortical regions that subserve the relevant tasks, lasting from minutes up to about an hour after cessation of stimulation. Although empirical work does support at least a partial role for this mechanism, an arguably more potent but relatively underexplored phenomenon is thought to occur in the hours or days after stimulation-that is, a facilitation of consolidative processes. Here, we review the literature describing the nature of tDCS-enhanced consolidation and argue that some of the mixed results among the single-session studies that currently dominate the extant literature may be explained by a failure to take advantage of these potentially powerful offline effects. Accordingly, we further contend that the full potential of tDCS cannot be truly realized without a longitudinal design which allows for tDCS to act directly upon learning by promoting consolidation between sessions. Finally, we review preliminary evidence that these consolidation effects can be even further enhanced via strategically spaced out stimulation sessions, which take advantage of a long-held tenet in the literature that distributed learning produces better outcomes than massed learning. We conclude by proposing potential study designs to encourage the use of tDCS as more than merely a method to promote temporary enhancement, but also a technique to enhance long-term learning.

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“…This is shown by reduced reaction times (RTs), a common way to quantify sequence acquisition (Nitsche et al, 2003; Kang and Paik, 2011; Kantak et al, 2012; Ehsani et al, 2016). Comparably reduced RTs were found during the recall of a sequence task when tDCS was applied over premotor (PM) cortex throughout REM sleep (Nitsche et al, 2010).…”

Section: Modulating Motor Learning Processes Through Tdcsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only a few studies have addressed the effects of cerebellar atDCS on sequence learning. For example, cerebellar stimulation applied during SRTT performance reduced the error rate (Ehsani et al, 2016), whereas it reduced RTs when applied prior to a follow-up session (Ferrucci et al, 2013). Interestingly, both M1 and cerebellar atDCS showed enhanced retention of SRTT performance (Ehsani et al, 2016).…”

Section: Modulating Motor Learning Processes Through Tdcsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, cerebellar stimulation applied during SRTT performance reduced the error rate (Ehsani et al, 2016), whereas it reduced RTs when applied prior to a follow-up session (Ferrucci et al, 2013). Interestingly, both M1 and cerebellar atDCS showed enhanced retention of SRTT performance (Ehsani et al, 2016). In a different type of sequence learning which relies on lateral cerebellar function, atDCS over cerebellum reduced tapping movement errors in follow-up sessions.…”

Section: Modulating Motor Learning Processes Through Tdcsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modulating Motor Learning through Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation: An Integrative View

2016

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Motor learning consists of the ability to improve motor actions through practice playing a major role in the acquisition of skills required for high-performance sports or motor function recovery after brain lesions. During the last decades, it has been reported that transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS), consisting in applying weak direct current through the scalp, is able of inducing polarity-specific changes in the excitability of cortical neurons. This low-cost, painless and well-tolerated portable technique has found a wide-spread use in the motor learning domain where it has been successfully applied to enhance motor learning in healthy individuals and for motor recovery after brain lesion as well as in pathological states associated to motor deficits. The main objective of this mini-review is to offer an integrative view about the potential use of tDCS for human motor learning modulation. Furthermore, we introduce the basic mechanisms underlying immediate and long-term effects associated to tDCS along with important considerations about its limitations and progression in recent years.

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Differential effects of primary motor cortex and cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation on motor learning in healthy individuals: A randomized double-blind sham-controlled study

Cited by 59 publications

References 43 publications

Cerebellar degeneration affects cortico-cortical connectivity in motor learning networks

Cerebellar degeneration affects cortico-cortical connectivity in motor learning networks

Optimizing Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Protocols to Promote Long-Term Learning

Modulating Motor Learning through Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation: An Integrative View

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