Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex as a possible tool to improve Attention in a healthy sample and how Mind Wandering, Sluggish Cognitive Tempo and multiple Psychopathological variables are related

Abstract

[eng] Objectives: The present study has been divided in two parts. The aim of the first study was to find if anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in young healthy adults could enhance some attentional variables. The objective of the second study was to analyze the relationship between Mind Wandering (MW) and Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT), and with some psychiatric symptoms. Methodology: We administrated a sociodemographic formulary which also included three scales (Adult Concentration Inventory (ACI), Mind Excessively Wandering Scale (MEWS) and DSM-5 Self-Rated Level 1 Cross-Cutting Symptom Measure — Adult (CCSM)), to a communitarian sample (n=43) of young adults. Ten of those forty-three participants were included in the tDCS study, where they received a single session of active (n=5) or sham (n=5) tDCS. Before and after the stimulation participants performed Conners’ Continnuous Performance Test (CPT-3) and Attention Network Task (ANT). Results: Those participants who received active tDCS uniquely showed a large and significant reduction of the variability of block change reaction time in the CPT-3 task. No significant differences were found in the three attentional networks, although the sham group showed a decrease in the efficiency of the executive network. Regarding the second study, we found a significant moderate correlation between ACI and MEWS, and weak correlations between CCSM and both ACI and MEWS. Conclusions: tDCS over DLPFC could improve sustained attention and prevent a reduction of the executive network efficiency. Moreover, as we expected, SCT, MW and emotional dimensions were related.