The effect of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation on multi-limb coordination performance

• Published in: Neuroscience Vol. 290; pp. 11 - 17
• Main Authors: Leenus, D.J.F., Cuypers, K., Vanvlijmen, D., Meesen, R.L.J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Ltd 02.04.2015
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Animals; Arm - physiology; Double-Blind Method; Electrodes; Female; Humans; inhibition; Leg - physiology; Male; motor control; multi-limb coordination; Neurology; Prefrontal Cortex - physiology; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Reaction Time; tDCS; Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation - instrumentation; Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation - methods; Young Adult; RT; multi-limb coordination; DLPFC; tDCS; ANE; FRT; stDCS; inhibition; atDCS; motor control; MRT; anodal tDCS; mean reaction time; dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; transcranial direct current stimulation; sham tDCS; average number of errors per trial; fastest reaction time; reaction time
• ISSN: 0306-4522; 1873-7544; 1873-7544
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.12.053

•This is the first study that investigated the effect of tDCS in multi-limb coordination.•The error rate and reaction time were analyzed as outcome parameters.•tDCS inhibits motor constraints during multi-limb coordination.•We found, tDCS improves the performance of multi-limb coordination in healthy subjects. Motor coordination is the combination of body movements performed in a well-planned and controlled manner based upon motor commands from the brain. Several interventions have been in practice to improve motor control. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is getting a lot of attention these days for its effect in improving motor functions. Studies focusing on the ability of tDCS to improve motor control, inhibition and coordination are sparse. Therefore, the influence of tDCS stimulation at the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on motor control and coordination was investigated, in a sham-controlled double-blinded pseudo-randomized design, with a multi-limb coordination task in healthy young subjects. Number of errors and reaction time were used as outcome parameters. Our findings showed that, anodal tDCS reduced the number of errors only in the heterolateral coordination condition, however there was no change in reaction time. No changes were found for the homolateral and three-limb coordination conditions.