Pantovic Milan, Albuquerque Lidio Lima de, Mastrantonio Sierra, Pomerantz Austin S, Wilkins Erik W, Riley Zachary A, Guadagnoli Mark A, Poston Brach
Health and Human Performance Department, Utah Tech University, St. George, UT 84770, USA.
School of Health and Applied Human Sciences, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28403, USA.
Brain Sci. 2023 Oct 10;13(10):1441. doi: 10.3390/brainsci13101441.
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to the primary motor cortex (M1) improves motor learning in relatively simple motor tasks performed with the hand and arm. However, it is unknown if tDCS can improve motor learning in complex motor tasks involving whole-body coordination with significant endpoint accuracy requirements. The primary purpose was to determine the influence of tDCS on motor learning over multiple days in a complex over-hand throwing task. This study utilized a double-blind, randomized, SHAM-controlled, between-subjects experimental design. Forty-six young adults were allocated to either a tDCS group or a SHAM group and completed three experimental sessions on three consecutive days at the same time of day. Each experimental session was identical and consisted of overhand throwing trials to a target in a pre-test block, five practice blocks performed simultaneously with 20 min of tDCS, and a post-test block. Overhand throwing performance was quantified as the endpoint error. Transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to obtain motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) from the first dorsal interosseus muscle to quantify changes in M1 excitability due to tDCS. Endpoint error significantly decreased over the three days of practice in the tDCS group but not in the SHAM group. MEP amplitude significantly increased in the tDCS group, but the MEP increases were not associated with increases in motor learning. These findings indicate that tDCS applied over multiple days can improve motor learning in a complex motor tasks in healthy young adults.
经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）作用于初级运动皮层（M1）可改善手部和手臂执行的相对简单运动任务中的运动学习。然而，tDCS是否能改善涉及全身协调且对终点准确性有显著要求的复杂运动任务中的运动学习尚不清楚。主要目的是确定tDCS在复杂的过肩投掷任务中对多天运动学习的影响。本研究采用双盲、随机、假刺激对照、受试者间实验设计。46名年轻成年人被分配到tDCS组或假刺激组，并在同一天的连续三天完成三个实验环节。每个实验环节相同，包括在预测试块中向目标进行过肩投掷试验、与20分钟tDCS同时进行的五个练习块以及一个后测试块。过肩投掷表现以终点误差进行量化。经颅磁刺激用于从第一背侧骨间肌获取运动诱发电位（MEP），以量化tDCS引起的M1兴奋性变化。在tDCS组中，终点误差在三天的练习中显著降低，但在假刺激组中没有。tDCS组的MEP幅度显著增加，但MEP的增加与运动学习的增加无关。这些发现表明，多天应用tDCS可改善健康年轻成年人复杂运动任务中的运动学习。
