Abstract：
High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that has been shown to be safe and effective in modulating neuronal activity. The present study investigates the effect of anodal HD-tDCS on haptic object perception and memory through stimulation of the lateral occipital complex (LOC), a structure that has been shown to be involved in both visual and haptic object recognition. In this single-blind, sham-controlled, between-subjects study, blindfolded healthy, sighted participants used their right (dominant) hand to perform haptic discrimination and recognition tasks with 3D-printed, novel objects called \"Greebles\" while receiving 20 min of 2 milliamp (mA) anodal stimulation (or sham) to the left or right LOC. Compared to sham, those who received left LOC stimulation (contralateral to the hand used) showed an improvement in haptic object recognition but not discrimination-a finding that was evident from the start of the behavioral tasks. A second experiment showed that this effect was not observed with right LOC stimulation (ipsilateral to the hand used). These results suggest that HD-tDCS to the left LOC can improve recognition of objects perceived via touch. Overall, this work sheds light on the LOC as a multimodal structure that plays a key role in object recognition in both the visual and haptic modalities.
摘要：
高清晰度经颅直流电刺激（HD-tDCS）是一种非侵入性脑刺激技术，已被证明在调节神经元活动方面是安全有效的。本研究通过刺激枕骨外侧复合体（LOC），调查了阳极HD-tDCS对触觉对象感知和记忆的影响。一种已被证明涉及视觉和触觉对象识别的结构。在这个单盲中，假控制，受试者之间的研究，蒙住眼睛健康，有视力的参与者使用他们的右手（优势手）通过3D打印执行触觉辨别和识别任务，被称为“Greebles”的新型物体，同时向左或右LOC接受20分钟的2毫安（mA）阳极刺激（或假）。与假相比，那些接受左LOC刺激(所使用的手的对侧)的患者在触觉对象识别方面有改善,但在辨别方面没有改善,这一发现从行为任务开始就很明显.第二个实验表明，右LOC刺激（同侧使用的手）未观察到这种效果。这些结果表明，左侧LOC的HD-tDCS可以改善通过触摸感知的对象的识别。总的来说,这项工作揭示了LOC作为一种多模态结构，在视觉和触觉模态的对象识别中起着关键作用。
