Enhancement of Affective Processing Induced by Bifrontal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Patients With Major Depression

Author(s)

Brunoni, Andre Russowsky ^{[1, 2]} ; Zanao, Tamires Araujo ^{[1, 2]} ; Vanderhasselt, Marie-Anne ^[3] ; Valiengo, Leandro ^{[1, 2]} ; de Oliveira, Janaina Farias ^{[1, 2]} ; Boggio, Paulo S. ^{[4, 5]} ; Lotufo, Paulo A. ^[2] ; Bensenor, Isabela M. ^[2] ; Fregni, Felipe ^[6]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Psychol, Dept Neurosci & Behav, BR-05508000 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Clin Res Ctr, Univ Hosp, BR-05508000 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[3] Univ Ghent, Dept Expt Clin & Hlth Psychol, B-9000 Ghent - Belgium

^[4] Univ Prebiteriana Mackenzie, Ctr Hlth & Biol Sci, Social & Cognit Neurosci Lab, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[5] Univ Prebiteriana Mackenzie, Ctr Hlth & Biol Sci, Dev Disorders Program, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[6] Harvard Univ, Sch Med, Spaulding Rehabil Hosp, Lab Neuromodulat, Boston, MA - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: NEUROMODULATION; v. 17, n. 2, p. 138-142, FEB 2014.
• Web of Science Citations: 30

Abstract

ObjectiveOur aim was to evaluate whether one single section of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a neuromodulatory technique that noninvasively modifies cortical excitability, could induce acute changes in the negative attentional bias in patients with major depression. Subjects and MethodsRandomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, parallel design enrolling 24 age-, gender-matched, drug-free, depressed subjects. Anode and cathode were placed over the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. We performed a word Emotional Stroop Task collecting the response times (RTs) for positive-, negative-, and neutral-related words. The emotional Stroop effect for negative vs. neutral and vs. positive words was used as the measure of attentional bias. ResultsAt baseline, RTs were significantly slower for negative vs. positive words. We found that active but not sham tDCS significantly modified the negative attentional bias, abolishing slower RT for negative words. ConclusionActive but not sham tDCS significantly modified the negative attentional bias. These findings add evidence that a single tDCS session transiently induces potent changes in affective processing, which might be one of the mechanisms of tDCS underlying mood changes. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 11/00212-2 - A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial using transcranial direct current stimulation and sertraline for evaluation of cognitive-affective behavior in major depressive disorder
• Grantee: Tamires Araujo Zanão Mariano
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation