Response Inhibition Induced in the Stop-signal Task by Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation of the Pre-supplementary Motor Area and Primary Sensoriomotor Cortex

[Purpose] This study examined whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of both the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) and primary sensoriomotor cortex (M1) alters the response time in response inhibition using the stop-signal task (SST). [Methods] Forty healthy subjects were enrolled in this study. The subjects were randomly tested under the three: the pre-SMA tDCS, M1 tDCS, and Sham tDCS conditions. All subjects performed a SST in two consecutive phases: without or after the delivery of anodal tDCS over one of the target sites (pre-SMA or the M1) and under the Sham tDCS condition. [Results] Our findings demonstrated significant reductions in the stop processing times after the anodal tDCS over pre-SMA, and change response times were significantly greater under the pre-SMA tDCS condition compared to both the M1 tDCS condition and the Sham tDCS condition. There was no significant major effect after delivery of the tDCS for the go processing times observed among the three conditions. [Conclusion] Anodal tDCS of the pre-SMA or M1 during performance of the SST resulted in enhancement of the volitional stop movement in inhibitory control. Our results suggest that when concurrently applied with the SST, tDCS might be a useful adjuvant therapeutic modality for modulation of the response inhibition and its related dynamic behavioral changes between motor execution and suppression.