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Enhancement of task-switching performance with transcranial direct current stimulation over the right lateral prefrontal cortex

Switching between two or more tasks is a key component in our modern world. Task switching, however, requires time-consuming executive control processes and thus produces performance costs when compared to task repetitions. While executive control during task switching has been associated with activ...

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Autores principales: Prehn, Kristin, Skoglund, Anja, Strobach, Tilo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8599339/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34510254
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00221-021-06212-7
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author Prehn, Kristin
Skoglund, Anja
Strobach, Tilo
author_facet Prehn, Kristin
Skoglund, Anja
Strobach, Tilo
author_sort Prehn, Kristin
collection PubMed
description Switching between two or more tasks is a key component in our modern world. Task switching, however, requires time-consuming executive control processes and thus produces performance costs when compared to task repetitions. While executive control during task switching has been associated with activation in the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC), only few studies so far have investigated the causal relation between lPFC activation and task-switching performance by modulating lPFC activation. In these studies, the results of lPFC modulation were not conclusive or limited to the left lPFC. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effect of non-invasive transcranial direct current stimulation [tDCS; anodal tDCS (1 mA, 20 min) vs. cathodal tDCS (1 mA, 20 min) vs. sham tDCS (1 mA, 30 s)] over the right inferior frontal junction on task-switching performance in a well-established task-switching paradigm. In response times, we found a significant effect of tDCS Condition (atDCS, ctDCS vs. sham) on task-switching costs, indicating the modulation of task-switching performance by tDCS. In addition, we found a task-unspecific tDCS Condition effect in the first experimental session, in which participants were least familiar with the task, indicating a general enhancement of task performance in both task repetitions and task-switching trials. Taken together, our study provides evidence that the right lPFC is involved in task switching as well as in general task processing. Further studies are needed to investigate whether these findings can be translated into clinically relevant improvement in older subjects or populations with executive function impairment.
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spelling pubmed-85993392021-11-24 Enhancement of task-switching performance with transcranial direct current stimulation over the right lateral prefrontal cortex Prehn, Kristin Skoglund, Anja Strobach, Tilo Exp Brain Res Research Article Switching between two or more tasks is a key component in our modern world. Task switching, however, requires time-consuming executive control processes and thus produces performance costs when compared to task repetitions. While executive control during task switching has been associated with activation in the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC), only few studies so far have investigated the causal relation between lPFC activation and task-switching performance by modulating lPFC activation. In these studies, the results of lPFC modulation were not conclusive or limited to the left lPFC. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effect of non-invasive transcranial direct current stimulation [tDCS; anodal tDCS (1 mA, 20 min) vs. cathodal tDCS (1 mA, 20 min) vs. sham tDCS (1 mA, 30 s)] over the right inferior frontal junction on task-switching performance in a well-established task-switching paradigm. In response times, we found a significant effect of tDCS Condition (atDCS, ctDCS vs. sham) on task-switching costs, indicating the modulation of task-switching performance by tDCS. In addition, we found a task-unspecific tDCS Condition effect in the first experimental session, in which participants were least familiar with the task, indicating a general enhancement of task performance in both task repetitions and task-switching trials. Taken together, our study provides evidence that the right lPFC is involved in task switching as well as in general task processing. Further studies are needed to investigate whether these findings can be translated into clinically relevant improvement in older subjects or populations with executive function impairment. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2021-09-12 2021 /pmc/articles/PMC8599339/ /pubmed/34510254 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00221-021-06212-7 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Research Article
Prehn, Kristin
Skoglund, Anja
Strobach, Tilo
Enhancement of task-switching performance with transcranial direct current stimulation over the right lateral prefrontal cortex
title Enhancement of task-switching performance with transcranial direct current stimulation over the right lateral prefrontal cortex
title_full Enhancement of task-switching performance with transcranial direct current stimulation over the right lateral prefrontal cortex
title_fullStr Enhancement of task-switching performance with transcranial direct current stimulation over the right lateral prefrontal cortex
title_full_unstemmed Enhancement of task-switching performance with transcranial direct current stimulation over the right lateral prefrontal cortex
title_short Enhancement of task-switching performance with transcranial direct current stimulation over the right lateral prefrontal cortex
title_sort enhancement of task-switching performance with transcranial direct current stimulation over the right lateral prefrontal cortex
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8599339/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34510254
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00221-021-06212-7
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