Supporting Decisions With Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Healthy Young and Elderly Individuals

University of Bern

Status: Completed

Conditions: Sham tDCS; Real tDCS

Treatments: Device: sham transcranial direct current stimulation; Device: real anodal transcranial direct current stimulation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Industry

Identifiers

NCT03959462

2017-01664

17C195 (Other Grant/Funding Number)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Decisions are part of the daily life. On the neuronal level, activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is important during complex decisions (e.g., whether something is emotional for a person or not). We apply transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with the aim to increase dlPFC activity and thereby modulate decisions towards emotional content.

Enrollment: 254 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 20 to 30 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Written informed consent
• Non-smokers
• Right-handedness
• Native German speakers or comparable level of fluency
• Normal or corrected-to-normal vision

Exclusion criteria

• Neurological or psychiatric condition (other than diagnosed cognitive impairment)
• Past head injuries
• Magnetizable implants
• History of seizures
• Current or life-time alcohol or drug abuse
• Skin diseases
• tES in the 3 months preceding or during the present study
• Caffeine 3 hours prior to training

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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254 participants in 2 patient groups

Real tDCS

Experimental group

Description:

20 min of 1 mA real anodal transcranial direct current stimulation applied via 5x7 cm rubber electrodes over the DLPFC (current density: 0.028 mA/cm2). Additional ramp-up and ramp-down phase at beginning and end of stimulation lasting for 15 s. Electrodes remain attached to the participant's head for the duration of the decision task.

Treatment:

Device: real anodal transcranial direct current stimulation

Sham tDCS

Sham Comparator group

Description:

30 s of 1 mA anodal tDCS applied via 5x7 cm rubber electrodes over the DLPFC (current density: 0.028 mA/cm2). Additional ramp-up and ramp-down phase at beginning and end of stimulation lasting for 15 s. Electrodes remain attached to the participant's head for the duration of the decision task.

Treatment:

Device: sham transcranial direct current stimulation