Cognitive enhancement induced by anodal tDCS drives circuit-specific cortical plasticity
Open accessAbstract
Increasing evidence shows that anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) enhances cognitive performance in healthy and clinical population. Such facilitation is supposed to be linked to plastic changes at relevant cortical sites. However, direct electrophysiological evidence for this causal relationship is still missing. Here, we show that cognitive enhancement occurring in healthy human subjects during anodal tDCS is affected by ongoing brain activity, increasing cortical excitability of task-related brain networks only, as directly measured by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation combined with electroencephalography (TMS-EEG). Specifically, TMS-EEG recordings were performed before and after anodal tDCS coupled with a verbal fluency task. To control for effects of tDCS protocol and TMS target location, 3 conditions were assessed: anodal/sham tDCS with TMS over left premotor cortex, anodal tDCS with TMS over left posterior parietal cortex. Modulation of cortical excitability occurred only at left Brodmann's areas 6, 44, and 45, a key network for language production, after anodal tDCS and TMS over the premotor cortex, and was positively correlated to the degree of cognitive enhancement. Our results suggest that anodal tDCS specifically affects task-related functional networks active while delivering stimulation, and this boost of specific cortical circuits is correlated to the observed cognitive enhancement.
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Applying tDCS while an individual is engaging in an active task is thought to result in induced cortical plastic changes primarily in the brain areas functionally relevant for task execution.
“Further, applying tDCS while an individual is engaging in an active task is thought to result in induced cortical plastic changes primarily in the brain areas functionally relevant for task execution [29].”
From Primary outcome from the augmenting cognitive training in older adults study (ACT): A tDCS and cognitive training randomized clinical trial (2023) · cites this paper as [29]
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Hausman, H. K., Alexander, G. E., Cohen, R., Marsiske, M., DeKosky, S. T., Hishaw, G. A., O'Shea, A., Kraft, J. N., Dai, Y., Wu, S., et al. (2023) · Brain Stimulation · doi:10.1016/j.brs.2023.05.021 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
- Authors
- Pisoni, A., Mattavelli, G., Papagno, C., Rosanova, M., Casali, A. G., & Romero Lauro, L. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Milano-Bicocca (IT)
- University of Trento (IT)
- University of Milan (IT)
- Universidade Federal de São Paulo (BR)
- Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy
- Corresponding author
- Pisoni, Alberto
- Venue
- Cerebral Cortex
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2017-02-10
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1132-1140
- ISSN
- 1047-3211 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2199
- OpenAlex
- W2587647489
- Cited by
- 136
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 7.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Cerebral Cortex (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca (Universita Degli Studi Di Milano) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- BOA (University of Milano-Bicocca) (submittedVersion)
- Iris (University of Trento) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Institutional Research Information System (Università degli Studi di Trento) (submittedVersion)
- UNIFESP Institutional Repository (Universidade Federal de São Paulo) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Traumatic Brain Injury Research
- Keywords
- anodal tDCS, cognitive enhancement, cortical plasticity, cortical excitability, verbal fluency, premotor cortex, posterior parietal cortex, language production, TMS-EEG
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Cerebral Cortex, Cognition, Electroencephalography, Female, Humans, Male, Nerve Net, Neuronal Plasticity, Semantics, Verbal Behavior, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Young Adult, Brain Waves, Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
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