title: Multisession Anodal tDCS Protocol Improves Motor System Function in an Aging Population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The primary objective of this study was to investigate the effects of five consecutive, daily 20-minute sessions of M1 a-tDCS on motor learning in healthy, cognitively intact, aging adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 23 participants (51 to 69 years old) performed five consecutive, daily 20-minute sessions of a serial reaction time task (SRT task) concomitant with either anodal (n = 12) or sham (n = 11) M1 a-tDCS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found a significant group × training sessions interaction, indicating that whereas aging adults in the sham group exhibited little-to-no sequence-specific learning improvements beyond the first day of training, reproducible improvements in the ability to learn new motor sequences over 5 consecutive sessions were the net result in age-equivalent participants from the M1 a-tDCS group. A significant main effect of group on sequence-specific learning revealed greater motor learning for the M1 a-tDCS group when the five learning sessions were averaged.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings raise into prominence the utility of multisession anodal TDCS protocols in combination with motor training to help prevent/alleviate age-associated motor function decline.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche de l'Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal, 5400 boulevard Gouin Ouest, Montréal, QC, Canada H4J 1C5; Département de Psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, 100 rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal, QC, Canada H2X 3P2.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dumel
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche de l'Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal, 5400 boulevard Gouin Ouest, Montréal, QC, Canada H4J 1C5; Département de Psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, 100 rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal, QC, Canada H2X 3P2.
authors.forename: M-E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Bourassa
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche de l'Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal, 5400 boulevard Gouin Ouest, Montréal, QC, Canada H4J 1C5; Département de Psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, 100 rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal, QC, Canada H2X 3P2.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Desjardins
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche de l'Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal, 5400 boulevard Gouin Ouest, Montréal, QC, Canada H4J 1C5.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Voarino
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche de l'Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal, 5400 boulevard Gouin Ouest, Montréal, QC, Canada H4J 1C5.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Charlebois-Plante
authors.affiliation: Unité de Neuroimagerie Fonctionnelle, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut de Gériatrie de Montréal, 4545 chemin Queen-Mary, Montréal, QC, Canada H3W 1W4; Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada H3C 3J7.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Doyon
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche de l'Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal, 5400 boulevard Gouin Ouest, Montréal, QC, Canada H4J 1C5; Département de Psychologie, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, 3600 rue Sainte-Marguerite, Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada G8Z 1X3.
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Beaumont
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation / Q000379:methods*