Starstim® on Nature

Relaxing brain activity with tDCS facilitates representational changes

The team of researchers led by Dr. Caroline Di Bernardi Luft, from the Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and the Goldsmiths University, has recently published on Nature (read article) the effects of tDCS on inhibiting learning constraints [1]. Their study shows that, unlike anodal or sham tDCS, cathodal tDCS over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) surpresses the brain activity linked to previously learned constraints and, therefore, facilitates the acquisition of new representational changes when solving matchstick arithmetic problems. The problems were presented to 60 healthy volunteers and the tDCS protocol was applied using Neuroelectrics® Starstim. The researchers from QMUL are beta users of the 20-channel wireless neurostimulator – Starstim R20.

[1] Luft CD, Zioga I, Banissy MJ, Bhattacharya J. Relaxing learned constraints through cathodal tDCS on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Scientific Reports. 2017;7.