Michael Nitsche - BrainSTIM2015 - Physiology and functional effects of tDCS and related techniques HD

“Physiology, and Functional Effects of tDCS and Related Techniques” is presented by Dr. Michael Nitsche, who is a pioneer in the field of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). He was a Professor at the department of Clinical Neurophysiology of the Georg-August-University, Göttingen, and has recently moved to the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Resources, Dortmund, Germany and the Department of Neurology, University Medical Hospital Bergmannsheil, Bochum, Germany. Presented at BrainSTIM2015, the Hawaii Brain Stimulation and Imaging Meeting, Co-Chaired by Dr. Vince Clark at the University of New Mexico and Dr. Linda Chang at the University of Hawaii and Queens Medical Center. http://brainstim2015.org Abstract: Neuroplasticity, and functional connectivity are important physiological derivates of cognition, and behaviour. Recently introduced non-invasive brain stimulation techniques are suited to induce, and modulate respective physiological alterations. One of these techniques is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Its primary mechanism of action is a polarity-dependent subthreshold shift of resting membrane potentials, the after-effects of stimulation depend on the glutamatergic system. Beyond these regional effects, tDCS has been shown recently to alter cortical, as well as cortico-subcortical functional network connectivity. This talk will give an overview about the physiological effects, and will cover functional effects of tDCS on cognitive, emotional and behavioural processes in healthy humans and patients suffering from neuropsychiatric diseases. Finally, it will be shown how alterations of functional oscillatory connectivity via transcranial alternating current stimulation can modify cognitive performance.