Probing the mechanisms underlying the mitigation of cognitive aging with anodal transcranial direct current stimulation.

Meinzer et al. (J Neurosci 33: 12470-12478, 2013) have recently reported that anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (atDCS) mitigates age-related cognitive changes. Simultaneous measurement of BOLD signal during atDCS also showed "youth-like" processing in an elderly population. Although the effects are very promising, the underlying mechanisms of atDCS are still not clear. In this article, we provide a critical review of the results, emphasizing the article's significance and providing additional insight that will help elucidate the results and atDCS mechanisms.