Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Neurology and Psychiatry

The potential efficacy of non-invasive brain stimulation procedures for the management of specific symptoms in diverse neurological and psychiatric conditions has been tested in the past decade or so. For example, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over prefrontal areas has been extensively investigated as a treatment for patients with medication-resistant depression and has been shown to be associated with improvement of mood. Similarly, non-invasive stimulation techniques have been applied to various symptoms of Parkinson's disease such as bradykinesia and dyskinesias, with variables degrees of success reported. However, attempts to expand previously observed clinical improvements to other neurological disorders (e.g. Tourette's syndrome, autism, epilepsy) has been controversial. In trying to bypass potential confounding elements, researchers aim to target neural populations altered in disease to either increase or decrease their corrupted baseline activity. In addition, a complementary approach is to extend stimulation protocols that results enhanced behavior in healthy participants. This Frontiers Research Topic on non-invasive brain stimulation and enhancement of function tries to combine a series of articles from researchers who used non-invasive brain stimulation to aim improvement of either a motoric, cognitive or behavioral nature investigated behaviorally, physiologically or using brain imaging techniques in clinical populations. Investigation of the relation between enhancement of function in healthy populations and clinical improvement in patients with neurological or psychiatric disorders needs further consideration.