Enhancing Working Memory Training with Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
Enhancing Working Memory Training with Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
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DOI：
10.1162/jocn_a_00979
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发表时间：
2016-09-01
影响因子：
3.2
通讯作者：
Jonides, John
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Au, Jacky;Katz, Benjamin;Jonides, John
工作记忆是一种支持复杂思维但容量有限的基本认知能力。因此，WM培训干预已经成为非常受欢迎的潜在提高WM相关技能的手段。另一种近年来越来越受关注的有前途的干预措施是经颅直流电刺激（tDCS），这是一种非侵入性的脑刺激形式，可以调节皮质兴奋性并暂时增加大脑可塑性。因此，它有可能促进学习和提高认知任务的表现。本研究评估了tDCS补充WM训练的有效性。62名受试者随机接受右前额叶、左前额叶或假刺激，同时进行7次视觉空间WM训练。结果表明，tDCS提高了训练表现，这是惊人的几个月后，训练完成。此外，我们观察到更强的效果时，tDCS间隔在周末休息相对于连续的日常训练，我们也证明了选择性转移在右前额叶组的视觉和空间WM的非训练任务。这些研究结果揭示了如何tDCS可能被利用作为一种工具，以提高性能的WM密集型学习任务。
Working memory (WM) is a fundamental cognitive ability that supports complex thought but is limited in capacity. Thus, WM training interventions have become very popular as a means of potentially improving WM-related skills. Another promising intervention that has gained increasing traction in recent years is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a noninvasive form of brain stimulation that can modulate cortical excitability and temporarily increase brain plasticity. As such, it has the potential to boost learning and enhance performance on cognitive tasks. This study assessed the efficacy of tDCS to supplement WM training. Sixty-two participants were randomized to receive either right prefrontal, left prefrontal, or sham stimulation with concurrent visuospatial WM training over the course of seven training sessions. Results showed that tDCS enhanced training performance, which was strikingly preserved several months after training completion. Furthermore, we observed stronger effects when tDCS was spaced over a weekend break relative to consecutive daily training, and we also demonstrated selective transfer in the right prefrontal group to nontrained tasks of visual and spatial WM. These findings shed light on how tDCS may be leveraged as a tool to enhance performance on WM-intensive learning tasks.