tDCS to Anterior Temporal Lobe

Out of the few electrode montages that I have tried, my favorite is the Anode to Right Anterior Temporal Lobe (RATL) and Cathode to LATL; it has the most noticeable effect for me. This was studied in Chi 2011(1).

The late evening is the most common time I give myself tDCS (I commonly use 1.0mA because of comfort). After treatments, I normally do not have trouble sleeping (but I normally have no sleep troubles), and in the last few minutes before sleep, my mind is alert and I am thinking of problems that need solutions.

Sometimes I have a noticeable difference the following day (particularly if I gave myself the ATL treatment): my mind is sharp, I am much more focused, and easily moving forward on the many projects at work and personal. Sometimes it gets a little manic; I may be obsessively concentrating on a task for hours and hours but not always. Sometimes I may have an unusually better ability and motivation to write, but not always.

I have been doing the ATL treatments described about twice a week for the two months or so. During that time I have been doing the schematic and layout of the PCB for the DC Stim (the schematic is the functioning of the circuit, the layout is how the ICs and components fit on the board); both very time consuming tasks. It is not my professional job, so I do the work here and there. When assessing effectiveness, of course, it is impossible to say if the treatments definitively helped,  but the product development is a mentally challenging tasks, and I welcome the advantage.

(1) Chi RP, Snyder AW, Facilitate insight by non-invasive brain stimulation. PLoS ONE 2011;6(2):1-7.