University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; Graduate School for Health Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Clin Neurophysiol. 2021 Jun;132(6):1254-1263. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2021.01.034. Epub 2021 Mar 26.
To investigate the efficacy of transcranial direct (tDCS) or alternating current stimulation (tACS) in boosting cognitive training efficiency in healthy older adults. We further explored whether such improvements depend on general cognitive performance or age.
In this randomized, sham-controlled study, 59 healthy elderly participants (mean age 71.7) were assigned to receive computer-based cognitive training (10 sessions, 50 min, twice weekly) combined with tDCS (2 mA), tACS (5 Hz), or sham stimulation over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (20 minutes). Cognitive performance was assessed with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and a cognitive composite score derived from a broad neuropsychological test battery before and immediately after the intervention as well as at 6 and 12 months follow-ups.
Performance in the cognitive composite score improved significantly in all groups but was not further modulated by neurostimulation. Additional analyses revealed that participants with a low initial MoCA score (<1SD) improved significantly more in the tDCS than in the sham group.
TDCS increased the efficacy of cognitive training, but only in participants with initially low general cognitive performance.
Cognitive interventions including tDCS should address baseline performance as modulating factor of cognitive outcomes.
探究经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）或交流电刺激（tACS）对提高健康老年人认知训练效果的作用。我们进一步探讨了这些改善是否依赖于一般认知表现或年龄。
在这项随机、假刺激对照研究中，59 名健康老年人（平均年龄 71.7 岁）被分配接受基于计算机的认知训练（10 次，每次 50 分钟，每周 2 次），同时接受左背外侧前额叶皮层的 tDCS（2 mA）、tACS（5 Hz）或假刺激。认知表现使用蒙特利尔认知评估（MoCA）进行评估，并在干预前后以及 6 个月和 12 个月的随访中使用广泛的神经心理学测试组合得出认知综合评分。
所有组的认知综合评分均显著提高，但神经刺激并未进一步调节。进一步的分析表明，初始 MoCA 评分较低（<1SD）的参与者在 tDCS 组中的改善明显大于假刺激组。
tDCS 提高了认知训练的效果，但仅在初始一般认知表现较低的参与者中。
包括 tDCS 的认知干预措施应将基线表现作为认知结果的调节因素。
