Targeting the Human Cerebellum with Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to Modulate Behavior: a Meta-Analysis

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Neuromodulation

Background:

• The cerebellum plays a crucial role in motor control and cognitive functions.
• Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique used to investigate brain function.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantitatively review studies on cerebellar tDCS efficacy in altering motor and cognitive behavior.
• To estimate the overall effect size of cerebellar tDCS in healthy volunteers.

Main Methods:

• Meta-analysis of 32 sham-controlled studies.
• Random effects modeling to assess cumulative effect size.

Main Results:

• Cerebellar tDCS (both anodal and cathodal) significantly altered behavioral performance.
• No significant polarity-dependent effects were observed for cerebellar tDCS.
• Effect sizes indicate tDCS can modulate cerebellar functions.

Conclusions:

• Cerebellar tDCS is a feasible method for targeting both motor and non-motor cerebellar functions.
• Polarity of tDCS does not predict the direction of behavioral changes in the cerebellum, possibly due to anatomical differences compared to the cerebral cortex.