Effect of tACS on Motor Performance and Adaptation during a Bimanual Task

Abstract

Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation is a non-invasive modality to alter neural activity in a frequency specific manner. The present study aims at investigating the effects of cerebellar tACS in inducing plasticity and motor adaptation Purkinje fibers are present in cerebellum and project into deep cerebellar nuclei that are the only output of cerebellar cortex that oscillate at natural frequency of 50 Hz. Cerebellum was stimulated at 50 Hz frequency targeting purkinje fibers at an intensity of 2mA for 18 minutes.it was applied long enough to induce neuroplastic effects. In our study Motor adaptation and performance was evaluated using two different tasks. Task A was tapping task that had the in-phase and antiphase tapping of index fingers on low and high frequency audio cues. Whereas task B was button press task with single audio cue and pressing twice the push button and a pulse transducer. Results were visually analyzed and group comparison was made using ANOVA.33 people took part in the study 11 were given active stimulation, 11 were sham and 11 were control group It was double blind sham controlled study and the data suggest that tACS group performed better than the control group or the sham group in early session whereas it performed better than the sham group in late sessions.