Black Dog Institute, Sydney, Australia.
Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2013 Oct;16(9):1927-36. doi: 10.1017/S1461145713000539. Epub 2013 May 30.
Computer-administered cognitive training (CT) tasks are a common component of cognitive remediation treatments. There is growing evidence that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), when given during cognitive tasks, improves performance. This randomized, controlled trial explored the potential synergistic effects of CT combined with tDCS in healthy participants. Altogether, 60 healthy participants were randomized to receive either active or sham tDCS administered during training on an adaptive CT task (dual n-back task), or tDCS alone, over 10 daily sessions. Cognitive testing (working memory, processing speed, executive function, reaction time) was conducted at baseline, end of the 10 sessions, and at 4-wk follow-up to examine potential transfer effects to non-trained tasks. Altogether, 54 participants completed the study. Over the 10 'online' sessions, participants in the active tDCS+CT condition performed more accurately on the CT task than participants who received sham tDCS+CT. The performance enhancing effect, however, was present only during tDCS and did not result in greater learning (i.e. improvement over sessions) on the CT task. These results confirm prior reports of enhancement of cognitive function during tDCS stimulation. At follow-up, the active tDCS+CT group, but not the sham tDCS+CT group, showed greater gains on a non-trained test of attention and working memory than the tDCS-only group (p < 0.01). Although this gain can mainly be attributable to training, this result suggests that active tDCS may have a role in further enhancing outcomes.
计算机辅助认知训练（CT）任务是认知矫正治疗的常见组成部分。越来越多的证据表明，经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）在进行认知任务时给予，可以提高表现。这项随机对照试验探讨了 CT 与 tDCS 联合应用于健康参与者的潜在协同作用。共有 60 名健康参与者被随机分配接受主动或假 tDCS，在自适应 CT 任务（双 n 回任务）期间进行训练，或单独接受 tDCS，共 10 个日常疗程。在基线、10 个疗程结束时和 4 周随访时进行认知测试（工作记忆、处理速度、执行功能、反应时间），以检查对非训练任务的潜在转移效应。共有 54 名参与者完成了这项研究。在 10 个“在线”疗程中，接受主动 tDCS+CT 条件的参与者在 CT 任务上的表现比接受假 tDCS+CT 的参与者更准确。然而，这种增强效果仅在 tDCS 期间存在，并且不会导致 CT 任务上的更大学习（即随着疗程的提高）。这些结果证实了先前关于 tDCS 刺激期间认知功能增强的报告。在随访时，主动 tDCS+CT 组，而不是假 tDCS+CT 组，在非训练注意力和工作记忆测试中比 tDCS 仅组表现出更大的增益（p <0.01）。尽管这种增益主要归因于训练，但这一结果表明，主动 tDCS 可能在进一步提高结果方面发挥作用。
