[Transcranial direct current stimulation in neuroscientific researches - pitfalls and solutions]

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a promising brain stimulation tool which is non-invasive, easy to use and relatively cheap. Since it can change brain activity in a temporal manner, it can contribute to both clinical practice and neuroscientific research. However, the effectiveness of tDCS has been questioned considering the lack of full understanding of its mechanism of action and the seemingly contradictory results. In this review, we aim to provide a summary of potential problems and possible solutions. Our main focus is on the inter-individual differences in the effect of tDCS which can explain the noisy data, thus, controlling for them is important in order to show reliable results. This review is hoped to contribute to maximizing the potential of tDCS by helping future researchers to design replicable studies.