scholarly journals The Effects of Acute Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Attentional Bias in Pedophilic Disorder: A Preregistered Pilot Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrizia Pezzoli ◽  
Anastasios Ziogas ◽  
Michael C. Seto ◽  
Natalia Jaworska ◽  
Andreas Mokros ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Direct Current ◽  
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation ◽  
Direct Current Stimulation ◽  
Pedophilic Disorder

scholarly journals The Effects of Acute Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Attentional Bias in Pedophilic Disorder: A Pre-registered Pilot Study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrizia Pezzoli ◽  
Pekka Santtila ◽  
Anastasios Ziogas ◽  
Andreas Mokros ◽  
Natalia Jaworska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Direct Current ◽  
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation ◽  
Brain Area ◽  
Attention Bias ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Child Victims ◽  
Direct Current Stimulation ◽  
Pedophilic Disorder

Individuals with Pedophilic Disorder (PD) experience personal and interpersonal difficulties and are at risk of sexually offending against children. As such, innovative and empirically validated treatments are needed. Recent studies have indicated that sex offenders with child victims (SOC) with PD display an automatic attention bias for child-related stimuli as well as reduced activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), a brain area involved in cognitive control, including control over sexual arousal. In the present pre-registered pilot study, we were the first to investigate whether acutely increasing prefrontal activity could reduce the putative pedophilic attention bias. To do so, we delivered a single 20-minute session of active anodal vs. sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the left dlPFC to 16 SOC with PD and 16 matched healthy controls, while they performed a task requiring controlled attention to computer-generated images of clothed and nude children and adults. We collected responses unobtrusively by recording eye movements. No significant tDCS effect on visual attention to sexually salient stimuli emerged during or immediately after stimulation. From a qualitative perspective, observations were in line with a bias for sexually preferred vs. non-preferred stimuli in patients but not in controls. Importantly, active vs. sham tDCS reduced this bias across outcome measures in patients but not in controls. Based on these preliminary findings, it is worth further investigating the possibility of using brain stimulation as a therapeutic intervention for PD. Methodological improvements were also identified and discussed to assist future research.

scholarly journals Comparison of repeated transcranial stimulation and transcranial direct-current stimulation on primary motor cortex excitability and inhibition: A pilot study

2018 ◽  
pp. 59-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Cabibel ◽  
Makii Muthalib ◽  
Jérôme Froger ◽  
Stéphane Perrey
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Direct Current ◽  
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Motor Evoked Potentials ◽  
High Definition ◽  
Direct Current Stimulation ◽  
Motor Cortex Excitability ◽  
The Right

Repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a well-known clinical neuromodulation technique, but transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) is rapidly growing interest for neurorehabilitation applications. Both methods (contralesional hemisphere inhibitory low-frequency: LF-rTMS or lesional hemisphere excitatory anodal: a-tDCS) have been employed to modify the interhemispheric imbalance following stroke. The aim of this pilot study was to compare aHD-tDCS (anodal high-definition tDCS) of the left M1 (2 mA, 20 min) and LF-rTMS of the right M1 (1 Hz, 20 min) to enhance excitability and reduce inhibition of the left primary motor cortex (M1) in five healthy subjects. Single-pulse TMS was used to elicit resting and active (low level muscle contraction, 5% of maximal electromyographic signal) motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) and cortical silent periods (CSPs) from the right and left extensor carpi radialis muscles at Baseline, immediately and 20 min (Post-Stim-20) after the end of each stimulation protocol. LF-rTMS or aHD-tDCS significantly increased right M1 resting and active MEP amplitude at Post-Stim-20 without any CSP modulation and with no difference between methods. In conclusion, this pilot study reported unexpected M1 excitability changes, which most likely stems from variability, which is a major concern in the field to consider.

Auditory P300 as a Neurophysiological Correlate of Symptomatic Improvement by Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Patients With Schizophrenia: A Pilot Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 252-258
Author(s):  
Minah Kim ◽  
Tak Hyung Lee ◽  
Wu Jeong Hwang ◽  
Tae Young Lee ◽  
Jun Soo Kwon
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Direct Current ◽  
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Symptomatic Improvement ◽  
P300 Amplitude ◽  
Direct Current Stimulation ◽  
Auditory P300 ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Positive And Negative Symptoms

Background. The reduced amplitude, prolonged latency, and increased intertrial variability of auditory P300 have been consistently reported in relation to the symptomatic severity of schizophrenia. This study investigated whether auditory P300 event-related potentials can be used as an objective indicator of symptomatic improvement by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in patients with schizophrenia. Methods. Ten patients with schizophrenia received 20 minutes of 2-mA tDCS twice a day for 5 consecutive weekdays. The anode was placed over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and the cathode was placed over the left temporo-parietal cortex. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the auditory P300 were measured for each participant at baseline and after the completion of the tDCS applications. Results. The participants showed significant improvement in the positive and negative symptoms as indexed by change in the PANSS scores by the tDCS. The P300 amplitude, latency, and intertrial variability did not statistically significantly differ after the tDCS application. However, a significant association was observed between the reduced P300 intertrial variability and improvement in the positive symptoms by tDCS. In addition, the changes in both the P300 latency and intertrial variability were significantly correlated with reduced negative symptoms after the tDCS application. Conclusions. Although this pilot study is limited by the small sample size and lack of a sham control, the results suggest that auditory P300 may be a putative marker reflecting the effect of tDCS on the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

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