A differential effect of visual cortex tDCS on reading of English and Chinese in patients with central vision loss.

We report that visual cortex a-tDCS influences reading performance in individuals with macular degeneration differently depending on the writing system employed. This finding will help to guide the international development of vision rehabilitation programs for macular degeneration that may utilize non-invasive brain stimulation. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Clinical Trial NCT04111068 ### Funding Statement This research is supported by CFI (34095), NSERC (RPIN-05394 and RGPAS-477166), and the Velux Stiftung Foundation (1188). This research is also supported by InnoHK and the Hong Kong SAR government. AES is supported by a Transformative Quantum Technologies postdoctoral fellowship. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The ethics committees of the University of Waterloo and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University gave ethical approval for this work. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the study are available upon reasonable request, subject to the study Steering Group's decision.