Effects of acute transcranial direct current stimulation in hot and cold working memory tasks in healthy and depressed subjects.

Q: What is the significance of the tDCS effects in MDD?

Their findings in MDD patients are in accordance to previous literature showing thattDCS increased performance in the n-back task [16], ameliorated emotional inhibitory control [28], enhanced performance in the Emotional Stroop Task [8] and in the affective go/no-go task [2].

Question

1. What are the contributions mentioned in the paper "Effects of acute transcranial direct current stimulation in hot and cold working memory tasks in healthy and depressed subjects" ?

2. What future works have the authors mentioned in the paper "Effects of acute transcranial direct current stimulation in hot and cold working memory tasks in healthy and depressed subjects" ?

3. What is the role of the frontolimbic system in MDD?

4. What was the main effect of tDCS on the n-back task?

Accepted Answer

In this paper, the authors used tDCS to induce prefrontal activation in depressed and healthy subjects, exploring its effects on emotion-laden and non-emotional working memory tasks.

Accepted Answer

Further studies using neuroimaging scans should be performed to confirm whether their results are associated to specific activation of brain networks.. Nonetheless, in the present study the authors did not examine the acute effects of tDCS on HDRS scores – future studies in depression could examine whether tDCS has fast antidepressant effects as observed for other novel therapies, such as ketamine.. Previous studies suggested that tDCS has pro-cognitive effects in MDD, although they were hindered by different methodological issues such as the absence of a control group, concomitant antidepressant use and a lack of sensitivity to detect cognitive changes due to task choice [ 24 ].. Therefore, their findings of acute working memory improvement after a single tDCS session confirm and expand the evidence regarding the potential benefits of tDCS on cognitive amelioration in MDD.

Accepted Answer

At the neural level, the frontolimbic system, which encompasses the DLPFC, theamygdala, the anterior cingulate cortex and other brain areas, regulates cognitive and emotional processing [20], such as behavioral management and disinhibition(Krueger,2011).

Accepted Answer

the authors performed regression analyses to investigate whether depression scores were associated to cognitive performance in the performed tasks.

Accepted Answer

Forty young adult participants (20 with MDD and 20 healthy controls) were randomized to a single, sham-controlled, bifrontal (left anodal / right cathodal), 2mA, 30-min tDCS session in a parallel design.

Accepted Answer

two modalities of impaired cognitive processing are observed in MDD, namely ‘cold’ and ‘hot’ cognition, which refer to information processing in the absence or presence of emotional influence, respectively [19].

Accepted Answer

For the emotional task, tDCS would exert modulatory effects only in depressedcompared to healthy subjects, considering that the former presents DLPFC hypoactivity that could be enhanced via direct current stimulation.

Accepted Answer

In fact, post-hoc power analyses revealed that some analyses, particularly for estimating small and medium effect sizes, were underpowered.

Accepted Answer

The mixed-model ANOVA observed no significant main effects for tDCS and group(Fs>0.34, ps<0.56) and a significant main effect for condition (F1,72= 167.59, p<0.01, pη 2=0.396, β=0.95), i.e., patients were overall slower in the face (vs. gender) tasks.

Accepted Answer

Their findings in MDD patients are in accordance to previous literature showing thattDCS increased performance in the n-back task [16], ameliorated emotional inhibitory control [28], enhanced performance in the Emotional Stroop Task [8] and in the affective go/no-go task [2].

Accepted Answer

Each participant executed two computerized evaluations: the first was performed before the tDCS session and the second after the tDCS session was finished, which lasted 30 minutes.

Accepted Answer

For the n-back task, the residual score changes in accuracy (i.e., responding to thetarget or omitting the response to a non-target) and RT were the dependent variablesevaluated.

Accepted Answer

the distinct effects of tDCS in the “hot” cognition task for healthy and depressed participants are indicative that tDCS outcomes are also regulated by differences in baseline activity of the stimulated network.

Accepted Answer

Effect sizes were Cohen’s d (small, medium and large effects correspond to values of 0.2, 0.5 and 0.8, respectively) and pη 2 (0.02, 0.13 and 0.26 to small, medium and large effects, respectively) [10].

Accepted Answer

the authors estimated the changes in performance before to after stimulation using the residual score changes, which is more advantageous to the absolute change (i.e., pre- minus post- RT), as it accounts for issues such as differences in baseline scores (as this variable was not controlled in their study design) and effects of regression to the mean [26].

Accepted Answer

The authors investigated whether an increase of DLPFC activity using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) would differently influence the performance in working memory tasks in depressed and healthy subjects.

Effects of acute transcranial direct current stimulation in hot and cold working memory tasks in healthy and depressed subjects.

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Most frequently asked questions

1. What are the contributions mentioned in the paper "Effects of acute transcranial direct current stimulation in hot and cold working memory tasks in healthy and depressed subjects" ?

2. What future works have the authors mentioned in the paper "Effects of acute transcranial direct current stimulation in hot and cold working memory tasks in healthy and depressed subjects" ?

3. What is the role of the frontolimbic system in MDD?

4. What was the main effect of tDCS on the n-back task?

5. How many young adults were randomized to tDCS?

6. What are the two modalities of impaired cognitive processing in MDD?

7. What is the effect of tDCS on the emotional task?

8. What were the results of the post-hoc power analyses?

9. What was the main effect of tDCS on the face?

10. What is the significance of the tDCS effects in MDD?

11. How long did the tDCS session last?

12. What were the dependent variables for the n-back task?

13. What is the role of tDCS in the “hot” cognition task?

14. What was the effect size of the IST?

15. What was the effect of the residual score changes on the performance of the subjects?

16. What is the role of tDCS in working memory?

Figures

Citations

Efficacy of non-invasive brain stimulation on cognitive functioning in brain disorders: a meta-analysis.

Interaction of the Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (l-DLPFC) and Right Orbitofrontal Cortex (OFC) in Hot and Cold Executive Functions: Evidence from Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS).

tDCS for the treatment of depression: a comprehensive review

The impact of affective information on working memory: a pair of meta-analytic reviews of behavioral and neuroimaging evidence

An investigation of working memory deficits in depression using the n-back task: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

References

Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences

The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.) : The development and validation of a Structured Diagnostic Psychiatric Interview for DSM-IV and ICD-10

The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.): the development and validation of a structured diagnostic psychiatric interview for DSM-IV and ICD-10

N-back working memory paradigm: A meta-analysis of normative functional neuroimaging studies

Clinical research with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS): Challenges and future directions

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