title: Is transcranial direct current stimulation a potential method for improving response inhibition?
abstract: Inhibitory control of movement in motor learning requires the ability to suppress an inappropriate action, a skill needed to stop a planned or ongoing motor response in response to changes in a variety of environments. This study used a stop-signal task to determine whether transcranial direct-current stimulation over the pre-supplementary motor area alters the reaction time in motor inhibition. Forty healthy subjects were recruited for this study and were randomly assigned to either the transcranial direct-current stimulation condition or a sham-transcranial direct-current stimulation condition. All subjects consecutively performed the stop-signal task before, during, and after the delivery of anodal transcranial direct-current stimulation over the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-transcranial direct-current stimulation phase, transcranial direct-current stimulation phase, and post-transcranial direct-current stimulation phase). Compared to the sham condition, there were significant reductions in the stop-signal processing times during and after transcranial direct-current stimulation, and change times were significantly greater in the transcranial direct-current stimulation condition. There was no significant change in go processing-times during or after transcranial direct-current stimulation in either condition. Anodal transcranial direct-current stimulation was feasibly coupled to an interactive improvement in inhibitory control. This coupling led to a decrease in the stop-signal process time required for the appropriate responses between motor execution and inhibition. However, there was no transcranial direct-current stimulation effect on the no-signal reaction time during the stop-signal task. Transcranial direct-current stimulation can adjust certain behaviors, and it could be a useful clinical intervention for patients who have difficulties with response inhibition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Yeungnam College of Science & Technology, Daegu 705-703, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yong Hyun
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, College of Rehabilitation Science, Daegu University, Gyeongbuk 712-714, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jung Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kwon
keywords: behavioral modification; grants-supported paper; inhibitory control; motor learning; neural regeneration; neuroregeneration; neurorehabilitation; pre-supplementary motor area; response inhibition; stop-signal task; transcranial direct current stimulation