External modulation of visual perception in humans

Abstract

Static and dynamic contrast sensitivities (sCS and dCS) were evaluated before, during, immediately after and 10 min after anodal and cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to the occipital cortex of 15 healthy subjects. Using 4 c/d spatial and 4 Hz temporal frequencies significant sCS and dCS loss was found during and immediately after 7 min cathodal stimulation while anodal stimulation had no effect. Ten minutes after the end of the stimulation the sCS and dCS values had reached the baseline levels. Our results show that primary visual functions, such as contrast detection can be transiently altered by transcranial weak direct current stimulation, most probably modulating neural excitability, as has been shown in the motor cortex previously. The present study also support the view that this method using weak current can be a non-invasive promising tool to induce reversible focal changes in the nervous system.