The impact of transcranial direct current stimulation on inhibitory control in young adults
Background: There is increasing evidence that the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a brain region related to reward and motivational processes, is involved in effective response inhibition and that decreased activity in this region coincides with reduced inhibitory capacity. Using transcrani...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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John Wiley and Sons Ltd
2015
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| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP130103277 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/31184 |
| _version_ | 1848753306576355328 |
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| author | Loftus, Andrea Yalcin, O. Baughman, Frank Vanman, E. Hagger, Martin |
| author_facet | Loftus, Andrea Yalcin, O. Baughman, Frank Vanman, E. Hagger, Martin |
| author_sort | Loftus, Andrea |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Background: There is increasing evidence that the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a brain region related to reward and motivational processes, is involved in effective response inhibition and that decreased activity in this region coincides with reduced inhibitory capacity. Using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to manipulate cortical activation, this study examined whether cross-hemispheric tDCS over the DLPFC affected performance on an inhibitory control task. Methods: Neurologically intact participants performed a modified Stroop color-word matching task before and after completing one of two tDCS conditions; (1) anodal stimulation over the left DLPFC or (2) sham tDCS. Results: There was a statistically significant effect of tDCS condition on Stroop reaction time (RT) pre-post tDCS change scores. Participants who received anodal stimulation over the left DLPFC demonstrated statistically significant faster RT change scores on the Stroop items compared to participants in the sham condition. Although errors on Stroop incongruent items decreased before and after receiving the tDCS treatment, there were no significant differences in errors on Stroop items between the anodal stimulation over left DLPFC and sham tDCS conditions. Anodal tDCS, which is known to elevate neural excitation, may have enhanced activation levels in the left DLPFC and minimized impairment of inhibitory control, resulting in better task performance. Conclusions: Current findings provide preliminary evidence that increased excitation of the left DLPFC improves inhibitory control and are a step toward understanding the potential of tDCS for moderating deficits in inhibitory control. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:22:25Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-31184 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:22:25Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | John Wiley and Sons Ltd |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-311842017-09-13T15:11:18Z The impact of transcranial direct current stimulation on inhibitory control in young adults Loftus, Andrea Yalcin, O. Baughman, Frank Vanman, E. Hagger, Martin Background: There is increasing evidence that the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a brain region related to reward and motivational processes, is involved in effective response inhibition and that decreased activity in this region coincides with reduced inhibitory capacity. Using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to manipulate cortical activation, this study examined whether cross-hemispheric tDCS over the DLPFC affected performance on an inhibitory control task. Methods: Neurologically intact participants performed a modified Stroop color-word matching task before and after completing one of two tDCS conditions; (1) anodal stimulation over the left DLPFC or (2) sham tDCS. Results: There was a statistically significant effect of tDCS condition on Stroop reaction time (RT) pre-post tDCS change scores. Participants who received anodal stimulation over the left DLPFC demonstrated statistically significant faster RT change scores on the Stroop items compared to participants in the sham condition. Although errors on Stroop incongruent items decreased before and after receiving the tDCS treatment, there were no significant differences in errors on Stroop items between the anodal stimulation over left DLPFC and sham tDCS conditions. Anodal tDCS, which is known to elevate neural excitation, may have enhanced activation levels in the left DLPFC and minimized impairment of inhibitory control, resulting in better task performance. Conclusions: Current findings provide preliminary evidence that increased excitation of the left DLPFC improves inhibitory control and are a step toward understanding the potential of tDCS for moderating deficits in inhibitory control. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/31184 10.1002/brb3.332 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP130103277 John Wiley and Sons Ltd fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Loftus, Andrea Yalcin, O. Baughman, Frank Vanman, E. Hagger, Martin The impact of transcranial direct current stimulation on inhibitory control in young adults |
| title | The impact of transcranial direct current stimulation on inhibitory control in young adults |
| title_full | The impact of transcranial direct current stimulation on inhibitory control in young adults |
| title_fullStr | The impact of transcranial direct current stimulation on inhibitory control in young adults |
| title_full_unstemmed | The impact of transcranial direct current stimulation on inhibitory control in young adults |
| title_short | The impact of transcranial direct current stimulation on inhibitory control in young adults |
| title_sort | impact of transcranial direct current stimulation on inhibitory control in young adults |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP130103277 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/31184 |