Comparing the effects of anodal and cathodal transcranial direct current
stimulation of primary motor cortex at varying intensities on motor
learning in healthy young adults
Abstract
Inconsistent results are observed in the effects of transcranial direct
current stimulation (tDCS) with different montages on motor learning.
This study aimed to compare the effects of anodal and cathodal tDCS over
primary motor cortex (M1) at different intensities (1 and 2 mA) on motor
learning in healthy young adults. The participants were randomly divided
to five groups: 1) 1mA M1 c-tDCS, 2) 1mA M1 a-tDCS, 3) 2 mA M1 c-tDCS,
4) 2 mA M1 a-tDCS and 5) M1 sham tDCS. The groups received 20-minute
stimulation concurrent with serial response time test (SRTT) implicitly,
while the tDCS was turned off after 30 seconds in the sham tDCS group.
Response time (RT) and error rate (ER) during SRTT were assessed prior,
during and 72 hours after the intervention. The results indicated that
online learning occurred in all groups (P < 0.05), except in
M1 c-tDCS (1 mA) (P>0.05). In addition, offline learning was
observed in 1 mA M1 a-tDCS, 2mA M1 a-tDCS and 2 mA M1 c-tDCS as compared
to sham tDCS and M1 c-tDCS (1 mA) groups (P < 0.05). On the
other hand, 1 mA M1 c-tDCS group did not indicate any consolidation
effect and even a trend toward negative offline learning. M1 a-tDCS with
different intensities and also 2 mA M1 c-tDCS may be helpful for the
enhancement of motor learning in young adults. Considering the
deterioration effect of 1 mA M1 c-tDCS, it seems that caution should be
applied in using it to improve motor learning.