Cognitive enhancement: an investigation of non-invasive electrical brain stimulation methods.

An investigation of non-invasive electrical brain stimulation methods on cognitive enhancement and cortical excitability in people with major depression and healthy controls.

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ANZCTR

Registry ID

ACTRN12612001061820

Enrollment

101

Registered

2012-10-04

Start date

2014-11-03

Completion date

2017-02-14

Last updated

2020-01-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

Recently there has been much interest in the capacity of non-invasive brain stimulation techniques to enhance cognitive processing. The technique that has been most often studied in this regard is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and there is now robust evidence that tDCS can be used to enhance a variety of cognitive processes. However, the potential of related techniques such as transcranial intermittent current stimulation (tICS) and transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) have not yet been investigated in detail, and many unanswered questions remain regarding the neurobiological underpinnings of stimulation induced cognitive enhancement. A related avenue of research is the emergence of novel cognitive training paradigms for depression. These therapies differ from traditional methods in that they target the cognitive rather than the emotional symptoms of depression. There has been much speculation regarding whether their efficacy could be further enhanced by concurrent application of non-invasive brain stimulation. The current study will investigate the capacity of three active methods of non-invasive electrical brain stimulation (tDCS, tRNS and tICS) and sham stimulation to enhance prefrontally mediated cognitive processing, in both healthy controls and individuals with major depression. It will address the following questions: 1. Which of these methods best augments cognition? 2. What impact do these methods have on cortical excitability? 3. To what degree do these brain stimulation methods impact on the neural oscillations associated with cognitive processing?

Interventions

Arm 1: 1 mA transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) Arm 2: 1 mA transcranial random noise stimulation (rRNS) with a 1mA DC offset All excitatory stimulation will be applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for 20 minutes using a neuroConn GBH/Eldith DC Stimulator.

Study design

Allocation

Randomised controlled trial

Intervention model

Parallel

Primary purpose

Treatment

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

18 Years to 65 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

Major Depression 1. Able to provide informed consent 2. Meet criteria for a major depressive episode as determined by structured clinical interview. Healthy Controls 1. Able to provide informed consent 2. Have no history of mental illness as determined by self report and structured clinical interview

Exclusion criteria

Major Depression 1. Comorbid psychotic illness All Participants 1. Unstable medical condition, neurological disorder or are currently pregnant or lactating 2. Metal in the cranium, a pacemaker, cochlear implant medication pump or other implanted electronic device

Outcome results