ArticleExperimental brain research2019
Non-linear effects of cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the primary motor cortex on implicit motor learning.
Article in Experimental brain research, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Towards optimized methodological parameters for maximizing the behavioral effects of transcranial direct current stimulation.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2024Pooled it
- Enhanced cognitive performance in older adults through combined cognitive training and transcranial direct current stimulation.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Implicit Motor Learning Under Anodal or Cathodal tDCS During fMRI Induces Partially Distinct Network Responses.The European journal of neuroscience · 2025Trial
- Cathodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Does Not Change Implicit Associations Against Alcohol in Alcohol Use Disorder: A Preregistered Clinical Trial.Addiction biology · 2025Trial
- Online stimulation of the prefrontal cortex during practice increases motor variability and modulates later cognitive transfer: a randomized, double-blinded and sham-controlled tDCS study.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Effects of bihemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation on motor recovery in subacute stroke patients: a double-blind, randomized sham-controlled trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2023Trial
- The effect of high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation intensity on motor performance in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2021Trial
- Does Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Over the Primary Motor Cortex Really Enhance Motor Sequence Learning?Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Article
- Modulation of interhemispheric inhibition and motor learning by different intensities of bilateral transcranial direct current stimulation in healthy adults.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- "Rationality" enhancement through anodal tDCS over the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Influence of noninvasive brain stimulation on connectivity and local activation: a combined tDCS and fMRI study.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2024Article
- Safety and feasibility of optimized transcranial direct current stimulation in patients with mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease: a multicenter study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
- Network-level mechanisms underlying effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on visuomotor learning in schizophrenia.Translational psychiatry · 2023Article
- Network-level mechanisms underlying effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on visuomotor learning impairments in schizophrenia.Research square · 2023Article
- The effect of action observation combined with high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation on motor performance in healthy adults: A randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2023Article
- Sensorimotor performance after high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation over the primary somatosensory or motor cortices in men versus women.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- tDCS effects on brain network properties during physiological aging.Pflugers Archiv : European journal of physiology · 2021Article
- Somatosensory Gating Is Modulated by Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2021Article
- Article
- Delta oscillation underlies the interictal spike changes after repeated transcranial direct current stimulation in a rat model of chronic seizures.Brain stimulationArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of 1 mA for 13 min was reported to create a linear inter-dependency between the intensity and duration of the current and the effects of the stimulation. tDCS on the primary motor cortex (M1) has been shown to have an effect on both motor-evoked potential (MEP) and motor learning. However, recent findings have shown that the known linear effect is invalid in a 2 mA stimulation for 20 min, where cathodal stimulation led to excitability, rather than inhibition, as measured by MEP changes. Here we aim to replicate the non-linear effect of cathodal stimulation over the M1, using a cognitive task. Twenty-two healthy subjects participated in three sessions, where they were administered with a 2 mA anodal and cathodal stimulation for 20 min over the left M1, and a sham stimulation, while performing the serial reaction time task (SRTT). The overall analysis failed to show any effects of either polarity of tDCS on SRTT performance and hence did not replicate previous findings. However, given our goal to replicate the previously reported reversed polarity effects on MEP, we conducted an exploratory analysis to see whether there were any more subtle signs of a change in sign of the cathodal effect compared with anodal. Anodal stimulation led to faster performance than cathodal stimulation before 13 min of stimulation have passed, however, after 13 min, the pattern had switched, and performance under cathodal stimulation was faster. We conclude that cathodal tDCS has a non-linear effect, and the known polarity-dependent effects of tDCS shift after 13 min of stimulation, leading to an increased, rather than decreased, excitability.
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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.