Adaptive Plasticity in the Healthy Language Network: Implications for Language Recovery after Stroke

Figure 3

Illustration of a phase-specific stimulation approach to promote language recovery after left-hemispheric stroke. Note that the appropriate stimulation protocol might strongly depend on the site and size of the lesion and the individual deficits. (a) In the acute and early subacute phase, an upregulation of homologous right-hemispheric regions with facilitatory noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) might promote language recovery. (b) In the late subacute and chronic phase, patients might rather benefit from an inhibition of homologous right-hemispheric regions and an upregulation of ipsilesional regions by NIBS. Grey circles illustrate a stroke-induced lesion.