The effects of transcranial electrical stimulation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on tactile spatial discrimination performance

• Published in: Behavioural brain research Vol. 452; p. 114600
• Main Authors: Saito, Kei, Koike, Kotaro, Takeuchi, Kota, Otsuru, Naofumi, Onishi, Hideaki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 24.08.2023
• Subjects: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; tactile discrimination performance; transcranial pulsed current stimulation; transcranial random noise stimulation; DLPFC; transcranial random noise stimulation; tRNS; tactile discrimination performance; tPCS; GOT; dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; transcranial pulsed current stimulation; Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; Tactile discrimination performance; Transcranial pulsed current stimulation; Transcranial random noise stimulation
• ISSN: 0166-4328; 1872-7549; 1872-7549
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114600

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a key role in tactile perceptual discrimination performance. Both transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) and anodal transcranial pulsed current stimulation (tPCS) have been shown to modulate neural activity in cortical regions. In this study, we aimed to determine whether tRNS and anodal tPCS over the left DLPFC would improve tactile perceptual discrimination performance of the right index finger in healthy neurological individuals. Subjects underwent a grating orientation task before, immediately after, and 30min after applying tRNS in Experiment 1 or anodal tPCS in Experiment 2. tRNS application on the left DLPFC tended to enhance tactile perceptual discrimination performance. In contrast, the application of anodal tPCS over the left DLPFC did not affect tactile perceptual discrimination performance. These findings indicate that transcranial electrical stimulation to the left DLPFC may improve tactile perceptual discrimination performance, with effects that depend on stimulus modality.