title: Anodal tDCS over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex modulates cognitive processing of emotional information as a function of trait rumination in healthy volunteers.
abstract: Healthy individuals reporting higher (as compared to lower) levels of trait rumination recruit more neural activity in dorso-cortical regions (mostly in the right hemisphere) when inhibiting negative information, possibly to compensate their difficulty to disengage from it. In the present study, we investigated whether these latter neural correlates are causally implicated in cognitive control in these individuals. We administered the Cued Emotional Control Task, a measure of cognitive control indexed by cognitive costs for inhibiting versus providing a habitual response for emotional information, in thirty-five healthy volunteers reporting a broad range of trait rumination levels. Participants completed the task after receiving both real and sham-placebo (counterbalanced order) anodal transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Results reveal that the tDCS induced effects on cognitive costs for emotional information were associated with individual differences in trait rumination: the higher the trait rumination level, the less cognitive costs following real neuromodulation of the right DLPFC. Interestingly, these effects were observed for both positive and negative stimuli, and not only negative information as hypothesized. Overall, the data suggest that the right DLPFC is causally involved in the alteration of cognitive control in healthy individuals who tend to ruminate, possibly by helping them to disengage from emotional material.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium; Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Free University Brussels, Brussels, Belgium; Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium. Electronic address: MarieAnne.Vanderhasselt@Ugent.be.
authors.forename: Marie-Anne
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Vanderhasselt
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium.
authors.forename: Alvaro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sanchez
authors.affiliation: Department of Data Analysis, Ghent University, Belgium.
authors.forename: Haeike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Josephy
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium; Department of Psychiatry, Free University Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baeken
authors.affiliation: Service of Interdisciplinary Neuromodulation (SIN), Laboratory of Neurosciences (LIM-27), Department and Institute of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Andre R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Brunoni
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium.
authors.forename: Rudi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Raedt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009770:Obsessive Behavior / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognitive control; Right DLPFC; Rumination; tDCS