Trial reportNeuroscience letters2017
Neural signature of tDCS, tPCS and their combination: Comparing the effects on neural plasticity.
Trial report in Neuroscience letters, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06999876 (The Effect of Combined Transcranial Pulse Current Stimulation), which is not on this map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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.
The Effect of Combined Transcranial Pulse Current Stimulation (tPCS) and Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) on Lower Limb Motor Function in Subacute to Chronic Stroke Patients With Hemiplegia: A Double-blind, Sham-controlled, Randomized Controlled Study
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of Electrical Stimulation on Mental Stress, Depression, and Anxiety: A Systematic Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Pooled it
- Trial
- Transcranial Pulsed Current Stimulation and Social Functioning in Children With Autism: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Exploring the effects of anodal and cathodal high definition transcranial direct current stimulation targeting the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex.Scientific reports · 2018Trial
- Bilateral Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Reshapes Resting-State Brain Networks: A Magnetoencephalography Assessment.Neural plasticity · 2018Trial
- Resolving inconsistent effects of tDCS on learning using a homeostatic structural plasticity model.Frontiers in network physiology · 2025Article
- Noninvasive Brain Stimulation for Neurorehabilitation in Post-Stroke Patients.Brain sciences · 2023Review
- A microfluidic perspective on conventional in vitro transcranial direct current stimulation methods.Journal of neuroscience methods · 2023Review
- Mechanisms of Action of Noninvasive Brain Stimulation with Weak Non-Constant Current Stimulation Approaches.Iranian journal of psychiatry · 2023Article
- Study on the diversity of mental states and neuroplasticity of the brain during human-machine interaction.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
- Dual-task interference is related to attentional level in healthy farmers: An observational study.Medicine · 2020Observational
- Optimized Electrode Placements for Non-invasive Electrical Stimulation of the Olfactory Bulb and Olfactory Mucosa.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2020Article
- The Efficacy of Transcranial Current Stimulation Techniques to Modulate Resting-State EEG, to Affect Vigilance and to Promote Sleepiness.Brain sciences · 2018Review
- Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation, Transcranial Pulsed Current Stimulation, and Their Combination on Brain Oscillations in Patients with Chronic Visceral Pain: A Pilot Crossover Randomized Controlled Study.Frontiers in neurology · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Transcranial pulsed current stimulation (tPCS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) are two noninvasive neuromodulatory brain stimulation techniques whose effects on human brain and behavior have been studied individually. In the present study we aimed to quantify the effects of tDCS and tPCS, individually and in combination, on cortical activity, sensitivity and pain-related assessments in healthy individuals in order to understand their neurophysiological mechanisms and potential applications in clinical populations. A total of 48 healthy individuals participated in this randomized double blind sham controlled study. Participants were randomized to receive a single stimulation session of either: active or sham tPCS and active or sham tDCS. Quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG), sensitivity and pain assessments were used before and after each stimulation session. We observed that tPCS had a higher effect on power, as compared to tDCS, in several bandwidths on various cortical regions: the theta band in the parietal region (p=0.021), the alpha band in the temporal (p=0.009), parietal (p=0.0063), and occipital (p<0.0001) regions. We found that the combination of tPCS and tDCS significantly decreased power in the low beta bandwidth of the frontal (p=0.0006), central (p=0.0001), and occipital (p=0.0003) regions, when compared to sham stimulation. Additionally, tDCS significantly increased power in high beta over the temporal (p=0.0015) and parietal (p=0.0007) regions, as compared to sham. We found no effect on sensitivity or pain-related assessments. We concluded that tPCS and tDCS have different neurophysiological mechanisms, elicit distinct signatures, and that the combination of the two leads to no effect or a decrease on qEEG power. Further studies are required to examine the effects of these techniques on clinical populations in which EEG signatures have been found altered.
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.