Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) Augments the Effects of Gamified, Mobile Attention Bias Modification

Hunter College of City University of New York

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 1

Conditions: Anxiety; Stress

Treatments: Behavioral: ABMT; Other: Transcranial direct current stimulation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04348812

334490

Details and patient eligibility

About

The present study tested whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) across the prefrontal cortex (PFC), versus sham stimulation, effectively augments the beneficial effects of a gamified attention bias modification training (ABMT) mobile app.

Full description

Anxiety-related attentional bias (AB) is the preferential processing of threat observed in clinical and sub-clinical anxiety. Attention bias modification training (ABMT) is a computerized cognitive training technique designed to systematically direct attention away from threat and ameliorate AB, but mixed and null findings have highlighted gaps in our understanding of mechanisms underlying ABMT and how to design the most effective delivery systems. One neuromodulation technique, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) across the prefrontal cortex (PFC) may augment the effects of ABMT by strengthening top-down cognitive control processes, but the evidence base is limited and has not been generalized to current approaches in digital therapeutics, such as mobile applications. The present study tested whether tDCS across the PFC, versus sham stimulation, effectively augments the beneficial effects of a gamified ABMT mobile app. Thirty-eight adults (Mage = 23.92, SD = 4.75; 18 females) evidencing low-to-moderate anxiety symptoms were randomly assigned to active or sham tDCS for 30-minutes while receiving ABMT via a mobile app. Participants reported on potential moderators of ABMT, including life stress and trait anxiety. ECG was recorded during a subsequent stressor to generate respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) suppression as a metric of stress resilience.

Enrollment: 38 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 45 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• mild - moderate anxiety

Exclusion criteria

• psychotic disorder
• substance use disorder

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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38 participants in 2 patient groups

tDCS Active

Experimental group

Description:

Transcranial direct current stimulation with ABMT

Treatment:

Other: Transcranial direct current stimulation

Behavioral: ABMT

tDCS sham

Sham Comparator group

Description:

Transcranial direct current sham stimulation with ABMT

Treatment:

Behavioral: ABMT