The Effect of Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation of Right Anterior Superior Temporal Sulcus in Adults Related to Autism Traits

6 
 
1. Transcranial Electrical Stimulation 
 
Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques allow the understanding of 
the relationships between brain and behaviour, due to the fact that with them is 
possible to study how altered neural activity affects behaviour (Polanía et al., 2018) 
Transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) is one of the most used NIBS 
technique; it is a neurostimulation technique which involves low constant or 
alternating currents delivered via electrodes positioned on the head. The mechanism 
consist in the fact that these weak currents are able to induce neural plasticity and 
interact with neural processes which lead to behavioural changes. There are also other 
relevant biological effects, such as changes on glial cells, on neurotransmitters and 
modulation of inflammatory processes (Bestmann and Walsh, 2017). 
The most valuable skill of tES is the ability to promote learning and neural 
plasticity and to allow the recovery of cognitive functions. For these reason tES is 
increasingly used in clinical trials and in the treatment of a range of disorders, 
attempting to identify and ameliorate pathophysiological mechanisms related to 
psychiatric and neurological disorders.  (Bestmann and Walsh, 2017).