Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of primary motor cortex (M1) modulate cortical excitability. Both techniques have been demonstrated to modulate chronic pain and experimental pain thresholds, but with inconsistent effects. Preconditioning M1 with weak tDCS (1mA) standardizes the effects of subsequent stimulation via rTMS on l...

Treatment-resistant depression affects at least 1-3% of the US population. This article reviews the current state of focal neuromodulation therapies for treatment-resistant depression, focusing on those treatments published clinical data. These include transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcranial direct current stimulation, magnetic seizure therapy, vagus nerve stimulation, direct cortical s...

Through plasticity the brain is able to change its function and to rearrange following injury or environmental changes. In recent years, it was shown that non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques, especially transcra- nial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can contribute to understand how these plastic changes occur. Additionally, the literatu...

When Policy Topic is not covered Treatment of tinnitus with any of the following therapies is considered investigational:  tinnitus maskers, customized sound therapy  combined psychological and sound therapy (eg tinnitus retraining therapy)  transcranial magnetic stimulation,  transcranial direct current stimulation  electrical transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the ear, electromagne...

Spatial neglect refers to the defective ability of patients to identify and respond to stimuli presented in the contralesional hemifield, following unilateral brain injury (mainly right hemisphere damage). Spatial neglect can occur in specific sectors of space regarding a given coordinate system. Neurophysiological and neuroimaging data underline the role of posterior parietal cortex (PPC) in v...

There are currently two techniques to manipulate brain function non-invasively: transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). These brain stimulation techniques work to cause long-term change within the brain. We have been combining noninvasive brain stimulation with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the plasticity of brain...

While both insight and divergent thinking tasks are used to study creativity, there are reasons to believe that the two may call upon very different mechanisms. To explore this hypothesis, we administered a verbal insight task (riddles) and a divergent thinking task (verbal fluency) to 16 native English speakers and 16 non-native English speakers after they underwent Transcranial Direct Current...

When we experience an error in a motor task, we adapt our next movement to partially compensate. The process of adaptation can be modeled as u(n+1) = αu(n) + η(n)e(n) where u(n) is the motor command on trial n, α is a decay factor, e(n) is error, and η(n) represents the subjects’ sensitivity to the experienced error. Here, we explore the rules that govern the value of η(n) as well as the brain-...

BACKGROUND Electrical stimulation of central nervous system areas with surgically implanted stimulators has been shown to result in pain relief. To avoid the risks and side effects of surgery, transcranial direct current stimulation is an option to electrically stimulate the motor cortex through the skull. Previous research has shown that transcranial direct current stimulation relieves pain in...