P 56 tDCS shows no effects on motor cortex excitability at rest

Introduction Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a widely used technique in research and clinics. However, the underlying physiological mechanisms are not yet clear. Modeling studies suggest that the electric field during tDCS is dominated by a tangential component which predominantly modifies active synaptic connections ( Radman et al., 2007 ). We have previously shown that tDCS with an increased tangential compared to the conventional montage introduced by Nitsche and Paulus (2000) , suppresses the effects of paired associative stimulation of the supplementary motor area and the primary motor cortex (PASSMA-M1) independent of tDCS polarity (Faber et al., under submission). H…