title: The impact of transcranial direct current stimulation on inhibitory control in young adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is increasing evidence that the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a brain region related to reward and motivational processes, is involved in effective response inhibition and that decreased activity in this region coincides with reduced inhibitory capacity. Using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to manipulate cortical activation, this study examined whether cross-hemispheric tDCS over the DLPFC affected performance on an inhibitory control task.
  
  
  METHODS
  Neurologically intact participants performed a modified Stroop color-word matching task before and after completing one of two tDCS conditions; (1) anodal stimulation over the left DLPFC or (2) sham tDCS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a statistically significant effect of tDCS condition on Stroop reaction time (RT) pre-post tDCS change scores. Participants who received anodal stimulation over the left DLPFC demonstrated statistically significant faster RT change scores on the Stroop items compared to participants in the sham condition. Although errors on Stroop incongruent items decreased before and after receiving the tDCS treatment, there were no significant differences in errors on Stroop items between the anodal stimulation over left DLPFC and sham tDCS conditions. Anodal tDCS, which is known to elevate neural excitation, may have enhanced activation levels in the left DLPFC and minimized impairment of inhibitory control, resulting in better task performance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Current findings provide preliminary evidence that increased excitation of the left DLPFC improves inhibitory control and are a step toward understanding the potential of tDCS for moderating deficits in inhibitory control.
authors: Curtin Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
authors: Andrea M
authors: AM
authors: Loftus
authors: Curtin Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
authors: Ozgur
authors: O
authors: Yalcin
authors: Curtin Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
authors: Frank D
authors: FD
authors: Baughman
authors: School of Psychology, University of Queensland Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors: Eric J
authors: EJ
authors: Vanman
authors: Health Psychology and Behavioural Medicine Group and Laboratory of Self-Regulation (LaSeR), School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
authors: Martin S
authors: MS
authors: Hagger
mesh_terms: D032763:Behavior Control; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D057190:Stroop Test; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; executive functioning; self-control; stroop; transcranial direct current stimulation