Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, Lenggstrasse 31, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland.
Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmühlesatrsse 14, Box 8, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland.
Sci Rep. 2021 Jul 20;11(1):14760. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-93647-1.
Reappraisal of negative memories and experiences is central for mental health and well-being. Deficiency of reappraisal lies at the core of many psychiatric disorders and is a key target for treatment. Here we apply transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to enhance reappraisal of negative emotional memories. In a randomised, sham-controlled, 2 × 2 between-subject and double-blinded study, we applied single sessions of anodal and sham tDCS over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) of 101 healthy participants while reappraising a personal negative memory or engaging in a control task. We hypothesised that (i) reappraisal decreases negative valence, arousal and evaluations of the memory and leads to improved decision making, and (ii) tDCS leads to additional changes in these reappraisal outcomes. In line with these hypotheses, participants' personal memories were rated as less negative and less arousing following reappraisal. Anodal tDCS during reappraisal was associated with significant short-term reductions in negative valence compared to sham stimulation. Our results indicate that tDCS may enhance some of the effects of reappraisal. If replicated, our findings suggest potential benefits elicited by tDCS stimulation that may help optimise current treatment approaches for psychiatric disorders.
重新评估消极记忆和体验对心理健康和幸福感至关重要。重新评估不足是许多精神障碍的核心问题，也是治疗的关键目标。在这里，我们应用经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）来增强对负面情绪记忆的重新评估。在一项随机、假刺激对照、2×2 被试间和双盲研究中，我们对 101 名健康参与者的右侧背外侧前额叶皮层（dlPFC）施加单次的阳极和假 tDCS，同时对个人的负面记忆进行重新评估或进行对照任务。我们假设：（i）重新评估会降低记忆的负面效价、唤醒度和评价，并改善决策；（ii）tDCS 会导致这些重新评估结果的额外变化。与这些假设一致，参与者对个人记忆的评价在重新评估后负面性和唤醒度降低。与假刺激相比，重新评估时的阳极 tDCS 与短期的负性效价显著降低相关。我们的研究结果表明，tDCS 可能增强了重新评估的一些效果。如果得到复制，我们的发现表明 tDCS 刺激可能带来的潜在益处，可以帮助优化当前治疗精神障碍的方法。
