Personalized tDCS targeting visual motion area V5 modulates smooth pursuit initiation
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for the modulation of ongoing eye movements provides an ideal model for investigating sensorimotor integration. Within neural networks subserving smooth pursuit eye movements, visual motion area V5 is a core hub to integrate visual motion information with oculomotor control. Here, we applied personalized tDCS explicitly targeting individual V5 in healthy human participants using algorithmic optimization informed by functional magnetic resonance imaging and combined electro- and magnetencephalography. We hypothesized subtle modulation of sensorimotor integration during pursuit and assessed the gain by personalized tDCS targeting V5, compared to personalized tDCS targeting the frontal eye field, as well as conventional normative tDCS over V5. Indeed, pursuit initiation was specifically delayed during personalized cathodal tDCS targeting right V5 indicating the involvement of distinct functional subregions of V5 in the initial sensorimotor integration of visual motion information with pursuit eye movements, but not the maintenance of ongoing pursuit. The results were well-controlled by anodal and sham tDCS, different pursuit tasks, finite-element simulations of individual electric fields, and by two additional control experiments, one that applied personalized tDCS targeting frontal eye field and another that applied normative tDCS over V5. Importantly, in contrast to personalized tDCS targeting FEF and normative tDCS over V5, personalized tDCS targeting V5 effectively modulated pursuit by adapting electric fields to individual anatomical and functional V5 properties. Our results provide evidence for the specific involvement of area V5 in sensorimotor integration during pursuit initiation and the ability of (targeted) tDCS to specifically introduce subtle modulation of the brain network underlying smooth pursuit eye movements. Further, our results indicate the potential of personalized tDCS to alter behavior as the main aspect of interest in human neuromodulation.