title: Enhancement of affective processing induced by bifrontal transcranial direct current stimulation in patients with major depression.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Our aim was to evaluate whether one single section of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a neuromodulatory technique that noninvasively modifies cortical excitability, could induce acute changes in the negative attentional bias in patients with major depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, parallel design enrolling 24 age-, gender-matched, drug-free, depressed subjects. Anode and cathode were placed over the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. We performed a word Emotional Stroop Task collecting the response times (RTs) for positive-, negative-, and neutral-related words. The emotional Stroop effect for negative vs. neutral and vs. positive words was used as the measure of attentional bias.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At baseline, RTs were significantly slower for negative vs. positive words. We found that active but not sham tDCS significantly modified the negative attentional bias, abolishing slower RT for negative words.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Active but not sham tDCS significantly modified the negative attentional bias. These findings add evidence that a single tDCS session transiently induces potent changes in affective processing, which might be one of the mechanisms of tDCS underlying mood changes.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Center, University Hospital, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Department of Neurosciences and Behavior, Institute of Psychology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Andre Russowsky
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Brunoni
authors.forename: Tamires Araujo
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Zanao
authors.forename: Marie-Anne
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Vanderhasselt
authors.forename: Leandro
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Valiengo
authors.forename: Janaina Farias
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.forename: Paulo S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Boggio
authors.forename: Paulo A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Lotufo
authors.forename: Isabela M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Benseñor
authors.forename: Felipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fregni
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: affective processing; cognition; depressive disorder; emotional Stroop effect; prefrontal cortex; transcranial direct current stimulation