title: Transcranial direct current stimulation can enhance ability in motor imagery tasks.
abstract: Previous studies have shown that motor-related areas are activated when individuals perform the hand mental rotation task (HMRT), which is used as a motor imagery task. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive method of cortical stimulation, and anodal tDCS enhances the excitability of target regions. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of tDCS during the HMRT. Eighteen healthy, right-handed participants in this study performed the HMRT before (pre) and immediately after (post) anodal or sham tDCS. Both anodal and sham tDCS were applied to the left scalp over the hand-knob area for 10 min with a current intensity of 1 mA. Reaction times and error rates were analyzed and compared. As main results, reaction times were significantly shorter for postanodal tDCS than for preanodal tDCS (P<0.01) or postsham tDCS (P<0.05). No significant differences in reaction times were observed between presham and postsham tDCS. These findings indicate that anodal tDCS during the HMRT can enhance task performance.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Analysis and Control of Upper Extremity Function, Graduate School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Shota
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Date
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kurumadani
authors.forename: Tomoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sunagawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008543:Melanins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*; D017557:Ventral Tegmental Area / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D008543:Melanins; C014121:neuromelanin