Direct-Current Stimulation Does Little to Improve the Outcome of Working Memory Training in Older Adults

The promise of transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) as a modulator of cognition has appealed to researchers, media, and the general public. Researchers have suggested that tDCS may increase effects of cognitive training. In this study of 123 older adults, we examined the interactive effect...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological science 2017-07, Vol.28 (7), p.907-920
Main Authors: Nilsson, Jonna, Lebedev, Alexander V., Rydström, Anders, Lövdén, Martin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
brain stimulation
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Cognition - physiology
Cognitive ability
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - instrumentation
Cognitive skills training
cognitive training
Cortex
Female
Humans
Learning - physiology
Male
Medicin och hälsovetenskap
Memory
Memory, Short-Term - physiology
Meta-analysis
Neuropsychological Tests
Older people
Prefrontal Cortex - physiology
Short term memory
Stimulation
Systematic review
tDCS
Transcranial direct current stimulation
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation - methods
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation-TENS
transfer
Transfer, Psychology - physiology
Treatment Outcome
Usefulness
working memory training
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Summary:The promise of transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) as a modulator of cognition has appealed to researchers, media, and the general public. Researchers have suggested that tDCS may increase effects of cognitive training. In this study of 123 older adults, we examined the interactive effects of 20 sessions of anodal tDCS over the left prefrontal cortex (vs. sham tDCS) and simultaneous working memory training (vs. control training) on change in cognitive abilities. Stimulation did not modulate gains from pre-to posttest on latent factors of either trained or untrained tasks in a statistically significant manner. A supporting meta-analysis (n = 266), including younger as well as older individuals, showed that, when combined with training, tDCS was not much more effective than sham tDCS at changing working memory performance (g = 0.07, 95% confidence interval, or CI = [-0.21, 0.34]) and global cognition performance (g = -0.01, 95% CI = [-0.29, 0.26]) assessed in the absence of stimulation. These results question the general usefulness of current tDCS protocols for enhancing the effects of cognitive training on cognitive ability.
ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
1467-9280
DOI:10.1177/0956797617698139