ReviewExperimental brain research2014
Electrifying the motor engram: effects of tDCS on motor learning and control.
Review in Experimental brain research, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 69 citations in OpenAlex.
- No effect of anodal high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation during motor sequence learning in older people.GeroScience · 2026Trial
- Variant Target Effects on Motor Learning With M1 Anodal tDCS.Brain and behavior · 2025Trial
- Performance in myoelectric pattern recognition improves with transcranial direct current stimulation.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Suppression of Motor Sequence Learning and Execution Through Anodal Cerebellar Transcranial Electrical Stimulation.Cerebellum (London, England) · 2023Trial
- Does M1 anodal transcranial direct current stimulation affects online and offline motor learning in patients with multiple sclerosis?Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2020Trial
- Using tDCS to facilitate motor learning in speech production: The role of timing.Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior · 2019Trial
- Trial
- Efficacy of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for Chronic Non-Specific Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Neurotechnology for enhancing human operation of robotic and semi-autonomous systems.Frontiers in robotics and AI · 2025Review
- Resolving inconsistent effects of tDCS on learning using a homeostatic structural plasticity model.Frontiers in network physiology · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- The Effect of Neuropriming and Focus of Attention on Amateur Standing Long Jump Performance.International journal of exercise science · 2022Article
- Reversed Polarity bi-tDCS over M1 during a Five Days Motor Task Training Did Not Influence Motor Learning. A Triple-Blind Clinical Trial.Brain sciences · 2021Article
- TDCS effects on pointing task learning in young and old adults.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Noninvasive Brain Stimulation & Space Exploration: Opportunities and Challenges.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2020Review
- Why is the explicit component of motor adaptation limited in elderly adults?Journal of neurophysiology · 2020Article
- Non-invasive modulation reduces repetitive behavior in a rat model through the sensorimotor cortico-striatal circuit.Translational psychiatry · 2018Article
- Differential Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) Depending on Previous Musical Training.Frontiers in psychology · 2018Article
- Examining the Interactions Between Expectations and tDCS Effects on Motor and Cognitive Performance.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Learning to control our movements is accompanied by neuroplasticity of motor areas of the brain. The mechanisms of neuroplasticity are diverse and produce what is referred to as the motor engram, i.e., the neural trace of the motor memory. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) alters the neural and behavioral correlates of motor learning, but its precise influence on the motor engram is unknown. In this review, we summarize the effects of tDCS on neural activity and suggest a few key principles: (1) Firing rates are increased by anodal polarization and decreased by cathodal polarization, (2) anodal polarization strengthens newly formed associations, and (3) polarization modulates the memory of new/preferred firing patterns. With these principles in mind, we review the effects of tDCS on motor control, motor learning, and clinical applications. The increased spontaneous and evoked firing rates may account for the modulation of dexterity in non-learning tasks by tDCS. The facilitation of new association may account for the effect of tDCS on learning in sequence tasks while the ability of tDCS to strengthen memories of new firing patterns may underlie the effect of tDCS on consolidation of skills. We then describe the mechanisms of neuroplasticity of motor cortical areas and how they might be influenced by tDCS. We end with current challenges for the fields of brain stimulation and motor learning.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.