“School of Cognitive Sciences”
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| Paper IPM / Cognitive Sciences / 18123 |
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Background: Schizophrenia is one of the most severe neuropsychiatric disorders with poor response or adherence to current treatment strategies. It is known by severe cognitive deficits that are linked to frontal abnormalities, especially in the prefrontal cortex. In two randomized, sham controlled study, ww investigated different stimulation intensities and frequencies of transcranial direct and alternating current stimulation (tDCS, tACS) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) for cognitive improvement in Schizophrenia.
Methods: In two randomized, double-blind, crossover studies, 50 patients with schizophrenia were assigned to two groups (Study 1 N = 25, Study 2 N = 25). In the first study, participants received tDCS at three intensities (2 mA, 3 mA, and sham), while in the second study, they received tACS at three frequencies (8 Hz, 40 Hz, and sham) over the left DLPFC for 20 minutes. During stimulation, all patients completed three cognitive tasks from the CANTAB neuropsychological battery: working memory, cognitive flexibility, and emotion recognition.
Results: In study 1, both 2 mA and 3 mA stimulation significantly improved working memory and cognitive flexibility compared to the placebo stimulation. However, only 3 mA stimulation improved emotion recognition performance. In 2nd study, only 8-Hz tACS improved working memory performance compared to the 40 Hz tACS and sham tACS. For the cognitive flexibility performance, 40 Hz tACS was significantly superior compared to other conditions. Both tACS conditions significantly improved emotion recognition performance.
Conclusion: While 3 mA tDCS seems to be more effective than 2 mA intensity, both 8 and 40 Hz tACS were similarly effective for improving cognitive deficits in schizophrenia.
Research Category and Technology and Methods
Basic Research: 8. Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS)
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