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Updated: May 27, 2026

Modulating Cognition Using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation of the Cerebellum
Published on: February 15, 2015
Cerebellar stimulation in ataxia
Stefan Jun Groiss1, Yoshikazu Ugawa
1Department of Neurology, Fukushima Medical University, School of Medicine, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima, Japan. groiss-js@umin.net
Abstract:
The cerebellum plays an important role in movement execution and motor control by modulation of the primary motor cortex (M1) through cerebello-thalamo-cortical connections. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) allows direct investigations of neural networks by stimulating neural structures in humans noninvasively. The motor evoked potential to single-pulse TMS of M1 is used to measure the motor cortical excitability. A conditioning stimulus over the cerebellum preceding a test stimulus of the contralateral M1 enables us to study the cerebellar regulatory functions on M1. In this brief review, we describe this cerebellar stimulation method and its usefulness as a diagnostic tool in clinical neurophysiology.
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