It's the thought that counts: examining the task-dependent effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on executive function
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Background Prior investigations employing transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) have shown that stimulation can elicit subsequent improvement on tests of various cognitive abilities, including working memory. While stimulation parameters such as intensity and duration are known to determine the effects of tDCS, the degree to which stimulation effects are influenced by the nature of cognitive activities during stimulation remains unclear. Objective/hypothesis To determine whether manipulating the working memory load of a task performed during stimulation would modulate tDCS-induced enhancement of performance on a different, related measure after stimulation. Methods In two separate but closely related sham-controlled experiments, two groups of healthy subjects underwent anodal tDCS (2 mA) of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) for 20 min. In Experiment 1, subjects (n = 11) trained on a letter 3Back task during stimulation. In Experiment 2 subjects (n = 11) trained on a letter 1Back task, which resembled the 3Back task but featured a lower working memory load. In both experiments, before and after stimulation, subjects completed an adjusting Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (A-PASAT). Both the experimenter and subjects were blind to stimulation conditions in both experiments. Results Subjects were both faster and more accurate on the A-PASAT task after receiving real tDCS paired with 3Back training (Experiment1) compared to sham+3Back, real+1Back, and sh…
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Behavioral improvements occur specifically when stimulation is paired with higher demanding tasks.
“Cognitive training task difficulty may also impact the efficacy of tDCS, as behavioral improvements occur specifically when stimulation is paired with higher demanding tasks [67].”
From Primary outcome from the augmenting cognitive training in older adults study (ACT): A tDCS and cognitive training randomized clinical trial (2023) · cites this paper as [67]
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“Gill and colleagues (Gill et al., 2015) pointed out that the outcomes of stimulation are influenced by the nature of the cognitive activity elicited by the task applied.”
BackgroundRosa, E. D., Brigadoi, S., Cutini, S., Tarantino, V., Dell’Acqua, R., Mapelli, D., Braver, T. S., & Vallesi, A. (2019) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116062 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
“One emphasizes the dependency of tDCS effects on task demands (Dedoncker et al., 2016; Gill et al., 2015; Stephens et al., 2017) in combination with inherent inter-individual variability, re fl ected in terms of “ baseline ” cognitive capacity, education, and cognitive reserve (Arciniega et al.,…”
BackgroundDedoncker, J., Baeken, C., Raedt, R. D., & Vanderhasselt, M. (2020) · Biological Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107991 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Han, Y. M. Y., Chan, M. M. Y., Shea, C. K., Lai, O. L.-H., Krishnamurthy, K., Cheung, M., & Chan, A. S.-Y. (2022) · Brain stimulation · doi:10.1016/j.brs.2022.02.004 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Effects of single-session transcranial direct current stimulation on reactive response inhibition
Friehs, M. A., Frings, C., & Hartwigsen, G. (2021) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.07.013 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
“For example, when applying offline protocols, being at rest or engaged in a task may impact the stimulation effect (Bikson and Rahman, 2013; Gill et al., 2015; Horvath et al., 2014; Hsu et al., 2011).”
MethodHill, A. T., Rogasch, N. C., Fitzgerald, P. B., & Hoy, K. E. (2018) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2018.11.022 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Agarwal, S., Pawlak, N., Cucca, A., Sharma, K., Dobbs, B., Shaw, M., Charvet, L. E., & Biagioni, M. C. (2018) · Journal of Clinical Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.jocn.2018.08.037 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Does non-invasive brain stimulation modulate emotional stress reactivity?
Smits, F., Schutter, D. J. L. G., van Honk, J., & Geuze, E. (2020) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsaa011 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
tDCS-Induced Effects on Executive Functioning and Their Cognitive Mechanisms: a Review
Strobach, T., & Antonenko, D. (2016) · Journal of Cognitive Enhancement · doi:10.1007/s41465-016-0004-1 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Polarity-specific transcranial direct current stimulation disrupts auditory pitch learning
Matsushita, R., Andoh, J., & Zatorre, R. J. (2015) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2015.00174 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
“This difference in timing of tDCS application seems to be crucial according to previous studies that showed that only concurrent application of tDCS and task enhanced task learning or increased cortical excitability (Stagg et al., 2011; Antal et al., 2014; Gill et al., 2014; Reis et al., 2015).”
Resultvan Steenburgh, J. J., Varvaris, M., Schretlen, D. J., Vannorsdall, T. D., & Gordon, B. (2017) · Molecular Autism · doi:10.1186/s13229-017-0152-x · Cited by 51 · see citing works
“This is consistent with previous findings of near transfer [29, 33, 85, 116, 117].”
ResultShah‐Basak, P. P., Sivaratnam, G., Teti, S. D., Francois-Nienaber, A., Yossofzai, M., Armstrong, S. E. M., Nayar, S., Jokel, R., & Meltzer, J. A. (2020) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-020-76533-0 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Self-citationStephens, J. A., Jones, K. T., & Berryhill, M. E. (2017) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-017-14030-7 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Živanović, M., Paunović, D., Konstantinović, U., Vulić, K., Bjekić, J., & Filipović, S. R. (2021) · Neurobiology of Learning and Memory · doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2021.107398 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Effects of HD-tDCS on memory and metamemory for general knowledge questions that vary by difficulty
Chua, E. F., Ahmed, R., & Garcia, S. M. (2016) · Brain stimulation · doi:10.1016/j.brs.2016.10.013 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Schwippel, T., Papazova, I., Strube, W., Fallgatter, A. J., Hasan, A., & Plewnia, C. (2018) · European Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.euroneuro.2018.09.009 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Ilieva, I. P., Alexopoulos, G. S., Dubin, M. J., Morimoto, S. S., Victoria, L. W., & Gunning, F. M. (2018) · The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2017.09.002 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Xu, X., Ding, X., Chen, L., Chen, T., Su, H., Li, X., Ye, Y., Shi, W., Ji, J., Zhao, M., et al. (2020) · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.12.056 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Nissim, N. R., McAfee, D., Edwards, S., Prato, A., Lin, J. X., Lu, Z., Coslett, H. B., & Hamilton, R. H. (2023) · Neuromodulation Technology at the Neural Interface · doi:10.1016/j.neurom.2022.12.014 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Self-citationZhu, Y., Yang, D., Ji, W., Huang, T., Xue, L., Jiang, X., Chen, L., & Wang, F. (2016) · BioMed Research International · doi:10.1155/2016/3821579 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
“As the most advanced part of brain development, the prefrontal lobe has attracted a large number of related studies including the executive function located in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) [1]; emotional symptoms located in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) [2]; selective attention located in t…”
BackgroundMethodAnodal tDCS augments and preserves working memory beyond time-on-task deficits
Karthikeyan, R., Smoot, M. R., & Mehta, R. K. (2021) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-021-98636-y · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Longitudinal tDCS: Consistency across Working Memory Training Studies
Berryhill, M. E. (2017) · AIMS neuroscience · doi:10.3934/neuroscience.2017.2.71 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
“The combination of cognitive task [86] and tDCS likely strengthens task-relevant networks via some form of LTP-like neuroplastic change [87] particularly in task-relevant networks [8,11], and especially when it is applied ‗online‘, meaning concurrently with, the task, rather than ‗offline‘ or after…”
Assecondi, S., Hu, R., Eskes, G. A., Pan, X., Zhou, J., & Shapiro, K. L. (2021) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-021-84298-3 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
The effects of direct current stimulation and random noise stimulation on attention networks
Lema, A., Carvalho, S., Fregni, F., Gonçalves, Ó. F., & Leite, J. (2021) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-021-85749-7 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Norise, C., Sacchetti, D. L., & Hamilton, R. H. (2017) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2017.00260 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
“We have previously observed in healthy subjects that the degree to which a cognitive training task engages particular mental abilities during tDCS directly influences the extent to which performance on tasks that require similar abilities are affected by stimulation (Gill et al., 2015).”
BackgroundSelf-citationLeite, J., Gonçalves, Ó. F., Pereira, P., Khadka, N., Bikson, M., Fregni, F., & Carvalho, S. (2017) · Neuroscience Research · doi:10.1016/j.neures.2017.08.005 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“This specificity f tDCS has been shown extensively in the literature, and is thought o be dependent on the activated network, the extension of its actiation, its resting state, or the level of cognitive demands (Carvalho t al., 2015; Ehlis et al., 2016; Gill et al., 2015; Hsu et al., 2016).”
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
Kenney‐Jung, D. L., Blacker, C. J., Camsari, D. D., Lee, J. C., & Lewis, C. P. (2018) · Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America · doi:10.1016/j.chc.2018.07.008 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Wang, Y., Wang, J., Zhang, Q., Xiao, K.-W., Wang, L., Yu, Q.-P., Xie, Q., Poo, M., & Wen, Y. (2022) · Neuroscience Bulletin · doi:10.1007/s12264-022-00901-1 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“enhanced cognition or motor learning [55-58] and these effects were specific to different level of task difficulty [59, 60] or the site of tDCS [58, 61].”
BackgroundDirect current stimulation of prefrontal cortex modulates error‐induced behavioral adjustments
Mansouri, F. A., Fehring, D. J., Feizpour, A., Gaillard, A., Rosa, M. G. P., Rajan, R., & Jaberzadeh, S. J. (2016) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/ejn.13281 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“ous studies have shown that the effects of tDCS over parietal cortex (Jones & Berryhill, 2012) or over the DLPFC (Gill et al., 2015) were related to the difficulty of the cognitive tasks.”
BackgroundSchroeder, P. A., Dresler, T., Bahnmueller, J., Artemenko, C., Kadosh, R. C., & Nuerk, H. (2017) · Journal of Cognitive Enhancement · doi:10.1007/s41465-016-0006-z · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“activity (state dependency) and on neural activations as induced by a task (Silvanto and Pascual-Leone 2008; Bikson and Rahman 2013; Gill et al. 2015).”
BackgroundQi, F., Nitsche, M. A., Ren, X.-P., Wang, D., & Wang, L. (2023) · Frontiers in Neurology · doi:10.3389/fneur.2023.1156987 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Action at a distance on object-related ventral temporal representations
Lee, D., Mahon, B. Z., & Almeida, J. (2019) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2019.02.018 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Moseley, P., Alderson‐Day, B., Ellison, A., Jardri, R., & Fernyhough, C. (2016) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2015.00515 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
“…it is possible to demonstrate a neutralization of the effect of anodal tDCS over left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in executive function (Gill et al., 2015), and for complex tasks, it is not uncommon to have similar behavioral effects manifested by both anodal and cathodal tDCS albeit…”
BackgroundGalletta, E. E., Conner, P. S., Vogel-Eyny, A., & Marangolo, P. (2016) · American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology · doi:10.1044/2016_ajslp-15-0133 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Mammarella, N., Domenico, A. D., Palumbo, R., & Fairfield, B. (2016) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2016.11.005 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
“This finding is also in line with previous studies suggesting that behavioral effects elicited from stimulation can be greater under conditions that are more cognitively demanding (Gill et al., 2014).”
Cucca, A., Sharma, K., Agarwal, S., Feigin, A., & Biagioni, M. C. (2019) · Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation · doi:10.1186/s12984-019-0481-4 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
“The principal mechanism of action of tDCS is a subthreshold modulation of neuronal membrane potentials, thus modulating spontaneous neuronal firing activity depending on the previous physiological state of the brain target area [19, 20].”
Nathou, C., Etard, O., & Dollfus, S. (2019) · Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment · doi:10.2147/ndt.s168801 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
“enlights that tDCS may be more effective when delivered twice daily or more than 10 sessions(47) and when is associated with a relevant task.(103) This observation could motivate future studies that implement tDCS with a task or during active AVH.”
BackgroundNeuropsychological functioning in child sexual abusers: A systematic review
Turner, D., & Rettenberger, M. (2020) · Aggression and Violent Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.avb.2020.101405 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Pergolizzi, D., & Chua, E. F. (2016) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2016.06.009 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
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Oveisgharan, S., Organji, H., & Ghorbani, A. (2017) · Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases · doi:10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2017.08.026 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Nissim, N. R., Harvey, D. Y., Haslam, C., Friedman, L., Bharne, P., Litz, G. A., Phillips, J. S., Cousins, K. A. Q., Xie, S. X., Grossman, M., et al. (2022) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2022.907425 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Self-citationHurley, R., & Machado, L. (2018) · Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology · doi:10.1080/13803395.2018.1434133 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
“More encouragingly, Gill, ShahBasak, and Hamilton (2015) showed that engaging in a 3-back, but not a 1-back, task during AtDCS improved poststimulation WM performance relative to a sham condition (StDCS + 3-back).”
BackgroundInfluentialTargeted neurorehabilitation strategies in post-stroke aphasia
Shah‐Basak, P. P., Boukrina, O. V., Li, X. R., Jebahi, F., & Kielar, A. (2023) · Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience · doi:10.3233/rnn-231344 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Self-citationGhanavati, E., Nejati, V., & Salehinejad, M. A. (2017) · Journal of Cognitive Enhancement · doi:10.1007/s41465-017-0059-7 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
“…and Vanderhasselt 2014; Javadi and Walsh 2012; Salehinejad et al. 2017a), attention (Coffman et al. 2014; Gladwin et al. 2012), executive functions (Gill et al. 2015; Nejati et al. 2017a; Nejati et al. 2017b), inhibitory control (Hsu et al. 2011; Salehinejad et al. 2017b), social cognition (Nejati…”
BackgroundKaruza, E. A., Balewski, Z. Z., Hamilton, R. H., Medaglia, J. D., Tardiff, N., & Thompson‐Schill, S. L. (2016) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2016.00665 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“…(e.g., Nozari et al., 2014), duration of stimulation (e.g., Nitsche and Paulus, 2001), cognitive demand involved in task (e.g., Antal et al., 2007; Gill et al., 2015), skull thickness and subcutaneous fat content (Datta et al., 2012), and a genetic polymorphism associated with prefrontal dopamine…”
BackgroundSelf-citationAlmeida, J., Martins, A. R., Bergström, F., Amaral, L., Freixo, A., Ganho-Ávila, A., Kristensen, S., Lee, D., Nogueira, J., & Ruttorf, M. (2017) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2017.07.001 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Eilam‐Stock, T., George, A., & Charvet, L. E. (2020) · Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology · doi:10.1093/arclin/acaa059 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Transcranial direct current stimulation: considerations for research in adolescent depression
Lee, J. C., Lewis, C. P., Daskalakis, Z. J., & Croarkin, P. E. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00091 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“Such task-specific effects are not limited to concurrent motor activities; the degree of cognitive demand of an executive functioning task during stimulation affected performance (70).”
BackgroundAlonzo, A., Aaronson, S. T., Bikson, M., Husain, M. M., Lisanby, S. H., Martin, D. M., McClintock, S. M., McDonald, W. M., O’Reardon, J. P., Esmailpoor, Z., et al. (2016) · Contemporary Clinical Trials · doi:10.1016/j.cct.2016.10.002 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Transcranial direct current stimulation can enhance working memory in Huntington's disease
Eddy, C. M., Shapiro, K. L., Clouter, A., Hansen, P., & Rickards, H. E. (2017) · Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.04.002 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
“Pairing tDCS with tasks may result in selective alterations in brain activity, and this is likely to depend on the extent to which the adjunctive tasks engage the targeted cognitive skill and related brain networks (Gill et al., 2015).”
BackgroundPrefrontal neuromodulation reverses spatial associations of non-numerical sequences, but not numbers
Schroeder, P. A., Nuerk, H., & Plewnia, C. (2017) · Biological Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2017.07.008 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“Thus, given that sequence information is here available to somewhat smaller extents, this task variant tested the possibility of subthreshold detection modulations (Schroeder et al., 2016) as opposed to the state dependency principle of tDCS (Gill et al., 2015; Zwissler et al., 2014).”
Boroda, E., Krueger, A. M., Bansal, P., Schumacher, M. J., Roy, A. V., Boys, C. J., Lim, K. O., & Wozniak, J. R. (2020) · Brain stimulation · doi:10.1016/j.brs.2020.04.015 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
High-Definition tDCS of Noun and Verb Retrieval in Naming and Lexical Decision
Александровна, М. С., & den Ouden, D. (2015) · NeuroRegulation · doi:10.15540/nr.2.3.111 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
- Authors
- Gill, J., Shah-Basak, P. P., & Hamilton, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hamilton, Roy
- Venue
- Brain Stimulation
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-03
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 253-259
- ISSN
- 1876-4754 (ISSN-L)
- 1935-861X
- OpenAlex
- W2047762347
- Cited by
- 224
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 33 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 12.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doaj.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Brain stimulation (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- University of Pennsylvania – Center for Undergraduate Research for funding this research
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Keywords
- transcranial direct current stimulation, executive function, working memory load, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anodal tDCS, Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test, 3-back task, non-invasive brain stimulation
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Double-Blind Method, Female, Humans, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Psychomotor Performance, Prefrontal Cortex, Young Adult, Executive Function, Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
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