How Many Days Would You Want to Practice a Skill to Achieve it?

How Many Days Would You Want to Practice a Skill to Achieve it?

Practice is required to improve your shot in basketball or to play a musical instrument. The learning of these motor skills can be further enhanced by non-invasively stimulating regions of the brain that control movements with electrical currents. These electric currents can strengthen or weaken connections of the brain, which consequently affects a person's ability to improve their performance on a skill. Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) is widely applied in many disciplines of neuroscience research, and has potential therapeutic application. There are two specific types of NIBS that will be used in this research study: 1) Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), which applies very weak electrical currents via two rubber electrodes on the scalp, and 2) Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), which applies magnetic pulses via a coil against the head, to stimulate regions of the brain. Both types of non-invasive brain stimulation (i.e., tDCS, and TMS) are well-tolerated, painless, and safe. The application of tDCS to brain regions that control movements, concurrently with practice of a skill, results in better skill performance, than practice alone with no tDCS. Therefore, in this study, we will be testing different types of brain stimulation and different amounts of practice.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy

Exclusion Criteria:

• prior history of neurological or psychiatric disease
• prior experience with the motor task used
• contraindications to TMS and TDCS (e.g., metal implants, history of seizures and headaches)
• musculoskeletal injury to upper limb
• drugs that interact with NIBS (e.g., antidepressants, antipsychotics, anticonvulsants)