Carlo Miniussi published in the scope of project 51/16 - Cognitive plasticity: Modulation and monitoring through a neurophysiological approach, supported by the BIAL Foundation, the paper Effects of different transcranial direct current stimulation protocols on visuo-spatial contextual learning formation: evidence of homeostatic regulatory mechanisms in the journal Scientific Reports.
“In the present study we tested the effects of different transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) protocols in the formation of visuo-spatial contextual learning (VSCL). The study comprised three experiments designed to evaluate tDCS-induced changes in VSCL measures collected during the execution of a visual search task widely used to examine statistical learning in the visuo-spatial domain. In Experiment 1, we probed for the effects of left-posterior parietal cortex (PPC) anodal-tDCS (AtDCS) at different timings (i.e. offline and online) and intensities (i.e. 3 mA and 1.5 mA). The protocol producing the more robust effect in Experiment 1 was used in Experiment 2 over the right-PPC, while in Experiment 3, cathodal-tDCS (CtDCS) was applied over the left-PPC only at a high intensity (i.e. 3 mA) but varying timing of application (offline and online). Results revealed that high intensity offline AtDCS reduced VSCL regardless of the stimulation side (Experiment 1 and 2), while no significant behavioral changes were produced by both online AtDCS protocols (Experiment 1) and offline/online CtDCS (Experiment 3). The reduced VSCL could result from homeostatic regulatory mechanisms hindering normal task-related neuroplastic phenomena.”
