18 December, 2014
by Aureli Soria-Frisch
While heading to Petronas Technology University where I will give a course on transcranial current stimulation (tCS) basics I summarized the basics of the technology and particularly on Starstim, the device we envisioned and started to develop within the HIVE project. tCS devices allow the controlled injection of low-amplitude electrical currents into the cerebral cortex through the electrodes, which are non-invasively placed on the scalp.
In this sense they play the opposite role to EEG, i.e. not for monitoring brain activity but for modifying it. There has been some advancement in the tCS field, but the technology and its effects on the brain are still not fully understood. Well, the effects are showing up more and more as studies and clinical trials increase. As a matter of fact, publications on tCS have multiplied by a factor of 4 in the last 4 years, and the clinical trials involving it, even by a factor of 10. But what is still not really understood is what causes this effect from both an electrophysiological as well as therapeutic point of view. I would like to comment on the electrophysiological effects giving some quick hints on what makes the applied electrical current affect the brain activity at the neuronal level. The state of the art is far from this understanding on its effects at neuronal population level and at a global brain level, i.e. connectivity, which have been much less studied.
Different types of tCS
Continue —> Quick and Dirty Guide on Transcranial Current Stimulation | Blog Neuroelectrics.
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