Parkinson's Disease, tDCS and Motor Sequence Learning

The aim of this study was to explore the effects of tDCS when applied to Parkinsonson's disease patients during an explicit motor sequence learning task. We hypothesised that anodal tDCS would enhance the rate of learning whilst cathodal tDCS may suppress learning. Data presented here are from a pre-post study design in which participants learnt a short (SQ4) and long (SQ12) finger taping sequence whilst recieving tDCS over the motor cortex. Participants were assessed before (pre-tDCS) and after (post-tDCS) task practice with concurrent tDCS under both single- and dual-task conditions. Dual-task performance was evaluated by asking participants to perform a shape counting task together with the finger tapping task.