Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS): A Beginner's Guide for Design and Implementation

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a popular brain stimulation method that is used to modulate cortical excitability, producing facilitatory or inhibitory effects upon a variety of behaviors. There is, however, a current lack of consensus between studies, with many results suggesting...

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Published inFrontiers in neuroscience Vol. 11; p. 641
Main Authors Thair, Hayley, Holloway, Amy L., Newport, Roger, Smith, Alastair D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland Frontiers Research Foundation 22.11.2017
Frontiers Media S.A
Subjects
anodal
Behavior
brain stimulation
cathodal
Cortex
cortical modulation
Electrical stimulation of the brain
Electrodes
ESB
Excitability
Experiments
Mental depression
Neuroscience
Polarity
protocol
Researchers
Systematic review
transcranial direct current stimulation
United Kingdom > UK
brain stimulation
cathodal
cortical modulation
protocol
anodal
transcranial direct current stimulation
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Summary:Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a popular brain stimulation method that is used to modulate cortical excitability, producing facilitatory or inhibitory effects upon a variety of behaviors. There is, however, a current lack of consensus between studies, with many results suggesting that polarity-specific effects are difficult to obtain. This article explores some of these differences and highlights the experimental parameters that may underlie their occurrence. We provide a general, practical snapshot of tDCS methodology, including what it is used for, how to use it, and considerations for designing an effective and safe experiment. Our aim is to equip researchers who are new to tDCS with the essential knowledge so that they can make informed and well-rounded decisions when designing and running successful experiments. By summarizing the varied approaches, stimulation parameters, and outcomes, this article should help inform future tDCS research in a variety of fields.
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These authors have contributed equally to this work and share joint senior authorship.
This article was submitted to Brain Imaging Methods, a section of the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience
Reviewed by: Gemma Learmonth, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom; Hellmuth Obrig, Max Planck Institute of Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Germany
Edited by: Amir Shmuel, McGill University, Canada
ISSN:1662-453X
1662-4548
1662-453X
DOI:10.3389/fnins.2017.00641