No Enhancing Effect of Fronto-Medial tDCS on Working Memory Processes

It has been argued that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the frontal cortex impacts, directly and indirectly, on oscillatory brain activity in the theta frequency range, and thus affects working memory. This study aims to clarify whether a tDCS montage with one electrode over a fr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cognitive enhancement 2019-12, Vol.3 (4), p.416-424
Main Authors: Friedrich, Elisabeth V. C., Berger, Barbara, Minarik, Tamas, Schmid, Doris, Peylo, Charline, Sauseng, Paul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Cognitive Psychology
Emotion
Neuropsychology
Neurosciences
Original Article
Pharmaceutical Sciences/Technology
Psychology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:It has been argued that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the frontal cortex impacts, directly and indirectly, on oscillatory brain activity in the theta frequency range, and thus affects working memory. This study aims to clarify whether a tDCS montage with one electrode over a fronto-medial stimulation site and the return electrode on the chin can indeed modulate working memory performance. It was predicted that tDCS with the anode over the fronto-medial site should lead to better working memory performance compared to when the cathode is placed over the fronto-medial site. Eighty-four participants were divided into three groups receiving either 10-min sham, anodal, or cathodal stimulation at 2 mA offline between two blocks of a two-back task. No significant differences between stimulation conditions were found. Bayes statistics indicated moderate evidence that the null hypothesis is in fact true. This paper demonstrates that the fronto-medial tDCS montage has no functional impact on working memory performance. Future studies could investigate fronto-medial frequency-specific oscillatory electric stimulation in the theta frequency range. Such oscillatory electrical stimulation might be more successful than tDCS in modulating working memory processes.
ISSN:2509-3290
2509-3304
DOI:10.1007/s41465-019-00136-5