TL;DR: In a 16-person trial, stroke survivors using a forearm stimulation sleeve during hand therapy all finished the 6-week program and rated it highly. Early arm-movement scores favored the sleeve, but the trial was too small to show that it works. Key Findings 16 of 16 finished: All 12 sessions over 6 weeks, in both …
TL;DR: Across 55 trials of brain stimulation for arm recovery after stroke, about 95% of people finished treatment, the same share as those given fake stimulation or usual care. Side effects were mostly mild headaches and skin tingling. Key Findings 55 trials, 2,640 people with arm weakness after stroke. Finished treatment: 94.9% with brain stimulation …
TL;DR: A 2026 mouse study in Nature Communications reported that 10 daily bouts of optogenetic dentate-gyrus stimulation produced weeks-long changes in chromatin, nuclear structure, behavior, and spatial coding, while Cyclin B deletion weakened several effects; this ECT-inspired model does not establish how electroconvulsive therapy works in people. Key Findings Ten stimulation sessions produced the durable …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in eNeuro used intracranial electroencephalography (EEG), a recording method for brain electrical activity, during deep brain stimulation surgery and found that Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor patients with elevated depression symptoms had weaker corticostriatal alpha-beta reward signaling. Key Findings 30 DBS patients participated: The sample included 14 Parkinson’s disease patients and …
TL;DR: A 2026 randomized trial in Physiotherapy Research International found that adding active 5 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to dual-task stroke rehabilitation produced larger gains in Timed Up-and-Go performance, balance confidence, and cognitive screening than sham stimulation plus the same training. Key Findings Small randomized trial: The study …
TL;DR: A 2026 medRxiv preprint found that one session of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) reduced cigarette craving in adults with tobacco use disorder, and the people who responded had heavier baseline smoking, craving, and withdrawal. Key Findings DLPFC craving test: The randomized crossover study included 60 adults …
TL;DR: A 2026 randomized feasibility trial in Nature Medicine found that gait-synchronized adaptive deep brain stimulation was feasible and safe in 5 people with Parkinson’s disease, with early findings of improved gait symmetry, lower variability, and fewer reported falls than continuous stimulation. Key Findings 5 Parkinson’s patients: The 1-center feasibility trial enrolled people with Parkinson’s …
TL;DR: A 2026 systematic review in The Cerebellum found that deep brain stimulation (DBS) produced modest symptom improvement in selected cerebellar ataxia patients, with dentate nucleus stimulation most common in humans and interposed nucleus stimulation emerging from animal studies. Key Findings Dentate nucleus is the dominant human DBS target: Across 15 clinical studies (27 patients), …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience found that visual working memory, the short-term holding of visual details, still showed a strong cardinal-versus-diagonal orientation bias under distraction, while transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a weak noninvasive brain-stimulation method, did not improve task reports. Key Findings Two stimulation experiments tested orientation memory: Researchers …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in Psychological Medicine found that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a weak electrical brain-stimulation method, affected empathy differently depending on whether researchers targeted the right temporoparietal junction or the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Key Findings Two brain targets diverged: right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) stimulation strengthened cognitive empathy, while left dorsolateral prefrontal …
