Effect of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Prefrontal Inhibition in Schizophrenia Patients with Persistent Auditory Hallucinations: A Study on Antisaccade Task Performance

BACKGROUND: Deficient prefrontal cortex inhibitory control is of particular interest with regard to the pathogenesis of auditory hallucinations (AHs) in schizophrenia. Antisaccade task performance is a sensitive index of prefrontal inhibitory function and has been consistently found to be abnormal in schizophrenia. METHODS: This study investigated the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on antisaccade performance in 13 schizophrenia patients. RESULTS: The tDCS resulted in significant reduction in antisaccade error percentage (t = 3.4; P = 0.005), final eye position gain (t = 2.3; P = 0.042), and AHs severity (t = 4.1; P = 0.003). CONCLUSION: Our results raise the possibility that improvement in antisaccade performance and severity of AH may be mechanistically related.