In a recent study published in Nature Human Behaviour , researchers investigated the causal contribution of specific oscillatory activity patterns within the human striatum to reinforcement motor learning using transcranial temporal interference stimulation (tTIS) with concurrent neuroimaging. Study: Non-invasive stimulation of the human striatum disrupts reinforcement learning of motor skills . Image Credit: New Africa/Shutterstock.
com Reinforcement feedback can enhance motor learning, yet the underlying brain mechanisms are not fully understood, particularly regarding the role of specific oscillatory activity within the human striatum. An emerging area of interest is the potential of noninvasive deep brain stimulation techniques, such as tTIS, to modulate these mechanisms. Understanding how different frequencies of tTIS impact neural activity and influence motor learning could reveal crucial insights into the striatal contribution to these processes.
Further research is needed to explore these relationships and develop targeted motor skill enhancement and rehabilitation interventions. The present study involved 48 right-handed healthy volunteers: 24 (15 women, 25.3 ± 0.
7 years old) in the main tTIS study and 24 (14 women, 24.2 ± 0.5 years old) in a behavioral control experiment.
Handedness was assessed using the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory. All participants provided informed consent following the Declaration of Helsinki, approved by the Cantonal Ethics Committee Vaud, .
