title: Cerebellar Cathodal Transcranial Direct Stimulation and Performance on a Verb Generation Task: A Replication Study.
abstract: The role of the cerebellum in cognitive processing is increasingly recognized but still poorly understood. A recent study in this field applied cerebellar Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (c-tDCS) to the right cerebellum to investigate the role of prefrontal-cerebellar loops in language aspects of cognition. Results showed that the improvement in participants' verbal response times on a verb generation task was facilitated immediately after cathodal c-tDCS, compared to anodal or sham c-tDCS. The primary aim of the present study is to replicate these findings and additionally to investigate possible longer term effects. A crossover within-subject design was used, comparing cathodal and sham c-tDCS. The experiment consisted of two visits with an interval of one week. Our results show no direct contribution of cathodal c-tDCS over the cerebellum to language task performance. However, one week later, the group receiving cathodal c-tDCS in the first visit show less improvement and increased variability in their verbal response times during the second visit, compared to the group receiving sham c-tDCS in the first visit. These findings suggest a potential negative effect of c-tDCS and warrant further investigation into long term effects of c-tDCS before undertaking clinical studies with poststroke patients with aphasia.
authors.affiliation: Rijndam Rehabilitation Institute, P.O. Box 23181, 3001 KD Rotterdam, Netherlands; Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: K
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1259-2704
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Spielmann
authors.affiliation: Rijndam Rehabilitation Institute, P.O. Box 23181, 3001 KD Rotterdam, Netherlands; Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, Netherlands; Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: van der Vliet
authors.affiliation: Rijndam Rehabilitation Institute, P.O. Box 23181, 3001 KD Rotterdam, Netherlands; Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: W M E
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: van de Sandt-Koenderman
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, Netherlands; Erasmus University College, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: M A
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0752-2034
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Frens
authors.affiliation: Rijndam Rehabilitation Institute, P.O. Box 23181, 3001 KD Rotterdam, Netherlands; Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Ribbers
authors.affiliation: Rijndam Rehabilitation Institute, P.O. Box 23181, 3001 KD Rotterdam, Netherlands; Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, Netherlands; Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: R W
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2432-6756
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Selles
authors.affiliation: Rijndam Rehabilitation Institute, P.O. Box 23181, 3001 KD Rotterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: van Vugt
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: J N
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2870-4208
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: van der Geest
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, Netherlands; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Holland
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000502:physiology*; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D011932:Reading; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D014825:Vocabulary; D055815:Young Adult