Elsevier

NeuroImage

Volume 140, 15 October 2016, Pages 4-19
NeuroImage

Combining non-invasive transcranial brain stimulation with neuroimaging and electrophysiology: Current approaches and future perspectives

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.02.012Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • A conceptual framework for combining NTBS and functional brain mapping

  • Neuroimaging and electrophysiology inform about where, when and how to apply NTBS.

  • Neuroimaging and electrophysiology provide readouts of NTBS-induced neuronal effects.

  • Informed open-loop NTBS allows to characterize (e.g. oscillatory) brain states.

  • Closed-loop NTBS allows to target and manipulate specific brain states.

Abstract

Non-invasive transcranial brain stimulation (NTBS) techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial current stimulation (TCS) are important tools in human systems and cognitive neuroscience because they are able to reveal the relevance of certain brain structures or neuronal activity patterns for a given brain function. It is nowadays feasible to combine NTBS, either consecutively or concurrently, with a variety of neuroimaging and electrophysiological techniques. Here we discuss what kind of information can be gained from combined approaches, which often are technically demanding. We argue that the benefit from this combination is twofold. Firstly, neuroimaging and electrophysiology can inform subsequent NTBS, providing the required information to optimize where, when, and how to stimulate the brain. Information can be achieved both before and during the NTBS experiment, requiring consecutive and concurrent applications, respectively. Secondly, neuroimaging and electrophysiology can provide the readout for neural changes induced by NTBS. Again, using either concurrent or consecutive applications, both “online” NTBS effects immediately following the stimulation and “offline” NTBS effects outlasting plasticity-inducing NTBS protocols can be assessed. Finally, both strategies can be combined to close the loop between measuring and modulating brain activity by means of closed-loop brain state-dependent NTBS. In this paper, we will provide a conceptual framework, emphasizing principal strategies and highlighting promising future directions to exploit the benefits of combining NTBS with neuroimaging or electrophysiology.

Keywords

Non-invasive transcranial brain stimulation (NTBS)
Transcranial current stimulation (TCS)
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
Neuroimaging
Electrophysiology
Closed-loop

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