Intra-subject consistency and reliability of response following 2mA transcranial direct current stimulation

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Dyke, Katherine, Kim, Soyoung, Jackson, Georgina M. and Jackson, Stephen R. (2016) Intra-subject consistency and reliability of response following 2mA transcranial direct current stimulation. Brain Stimulation, 9 (6). pp. 819-825. ISSN 1876-4754

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Abstract

Background

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a popular non-invasive brain stimulation technique that has been shown to influence cortical excitability. While polarity specific effects have often been reported, this is not always the case, and variability in both the magnitude and direction of the effects have been observed.

Objective/ hypothesis

We aimed to explore the consistency and reliability of the effects of tDCS by investigating changes in cortical excitability across multiple testing sessions in the same individuals. A within subjects design was used to investigate the effects of anodal and cathodal tDCS applied to the motor cortex. Four experimental sessions were tested for each polarity in addition to two sham sessions.

Methods

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) was used to measure cortical excitability (TMS recruitment curves). Changes in excitability were measured by comparing baseline measures and those taken immediately following 20minutes of 2mA stimulation or sham stimulation.

Results

Anodal tDCS significantly increased cortical excitability at a group level, whereas cathodal tDCS failed to have any significant effects. The sham condition also failed to show any significant changes. Analysis of intra-subject responses to anodal stimulation across four sessions suggest that the amount of change in excitability across sessions was only weakly associated, and was found to have poor reliability across sessions (ICC=0.276). The effects of cathodal stimulation show even poorer reliability across sessions (ICC=0.137). In contrast ICC analysis for the two sessions of sham stimulation reflect a moderate level of reliability (ICC=.424).

Conclusions

Our findings indicate that although 2mA anodal tDCS is effective at increasing cortical excitability at group level, the effects are unreliable across repeated testing sessions within individual participants. Our results suggest that 2mA cathodal tDCS does not significantly alter cortical excitability immediately following stimulation and that there is poor reliability of the effect within the same individual across different testing sessions.

Item Type: Article
RIS ID: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/826273
Keywords: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS); Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS); Motor Cortex; Cortical Excitability
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Medicine > Division of Psychiatry and Applied Psychology
University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Science > School of Psychology
Identification Number: 10.1016/j.brs.2016.06.052
Depositing User: Eprints, Support
Date Deposited: 28 Jun 2016 07:21
Last Modified: 04 May 2020 18:19
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/34423

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