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Pimping Inhibition: Anodal tDCS Enhances Stop-Signal Reaction Time

The stop-signal task (SST) is assumed to reliably measure response inhibition; specifically, in this task participants sometimes have to withhold a response according to the onset of a sudden cue. The response-stopping process is estimated by a stochastic model that delivers the stop-signal reaction...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance 2018-12, Vol.44 (12), p.1933-1945
Main Authors: Friehs, Maximilian A., Frings, Christian
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:The stop-signal task (SST) is assumed to reliably measure response inhibition; specifically, in this task participants sometimes have to withhold a response according to the onset of a sudden cue. The response-stopping process is estimated by a stochastic model that delivers the stop-signal reaction time (SSRT; Verbruggen & Logan, 2009), that is, the latency to inhibit prepotent responses. The right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC) plays a key role in goal directed cognitive control in general and particularly an increased activation has been associated with better SST performance (that is with shorter SSRT). We stimulated the rDLPFC in a prepost design via transcranial DC stimulation (tDCS). A 9 cm2 anode was always positioned over the rDLPFC while the 35 cm2 cathode was placed over the left deltoid. We contrasted an anodal stimulation condition (that is assumed to enhance neural processing) with sham stimulation and expected an increase in inhibitory functions after anodal tDCS, as evidenced by a decrease in SSRT. In a sample of N = 56 healthy adults, we found a significant Time × tDCS-Condition interaction in the expected direction. Control analysis confirmed that the statistically significant decrease in SSRT after anodal tDCS was not due to generally faster reaction times. These results confirm the role of the rDLPFC for cognitive inhibition processes and further suggest that inhibition is not a fixed resource but depends on the current state of the PFC. Public Significance Statement This study suggests that an individual's ability to inhibit an already initiated action can be enhanced using transcranial DC stimulation thereby showing that the cognitive processes contributing to stopping responses are malleable and dependent on the neuronal state of particular brain regions. This result is especially important for people that rely upon fast and accurate actions (e.g., athletes or physicians) or people with certain psychological disorders (e.g., ADHD).
ISSN:0096-1523
1939-1277
DOI:10.1037/xhp0000579