NCT03959462 - Supporting Decisions With Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Healthy Young and Elderly Individuals | Crick

Overview

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.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

DOUBLE

Enrollment

254

Conditions

Real tDCS Sham tDCS

Interventions

real anodal transcranial direct current stimulationDEVICE

A neuroConn DC-Stimulator PLUS (neuroCare Group, Ilmenau, Germany) will be used.

sham transcranial direct current stimulationDEVICE

A neuroConn DC-Stimulator PLUS (neuroCare Group, Ilmenau, Germany) will be used.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 20 YearsMax age: 30 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

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

Locations (1)

Klinik für Alterspsychiatrie und Psychotherapie UPD Bern

Bern, Switzerland

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Influence of Stimulation on the Decisions

Number of words which were rated as positive or negative.

Time frame: 10 minutes

Secondary Outcomes

Profile of Mood States (POMS; before stimulation)

Changes in the subjective measure mood, assessed with questionnaire Scores for each item is recorded as 0 for "not at all" up to 6 for "very strong". A Total Mood Disturbance (TMD) score is calculated by summing the totals for the negative subscales dejection (14 items), fatigue (7 items) and discontent (7 items) and then subtracting the total for the positive subscale zest (7 items).

Time frame: 3 minutes

Profile of Mood States (POMS; after stimulation)

Changes in the subjective measure mood, assessed with questionnaire Scores for each item is recorded as 0 for "not at all" up to 6 for "very strong". A Total Mood Disturbance (TMD) score is calculated by summing the totals for the negative subscales dejection (14 items), fatigue (7 items) and discontent (7 items) and then subtracting the total for the positive subscale zest (7 items).

Time frame: 3 minutes

Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; before stimulation)

Changes in the subjective measure mood, assessed with self-report questionnaire divided into two mood scales. One scale measures a person's positive emotion and the other scale measures the negative. Each segment has ten terms, which can be rated on a scale of 1 to 5 to indicate the extent to which the respondent agrees that this applies to him (higher values means higher agreement).

Time frame: 2 minutes

Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; after stimulation)

Changes in the subjective measure mood, assessed with self-report questionnaire divided into two mood scales. One scale measures a person's positive emotion and the other scale measures the negative. Each segment has ten terms, which can be rated on a scale of 1 to 5 to indicate the extent to which the respondent agrees that this applies to him (higher values means higher agreement).