| Autor: |
Fromm AE; Department of Neurology, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Ferdinand-Sauerbruch-Straße, 17475 Greifswald, Germany., Grittner U; Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), 10178 Berlin, Germany.; Institute of Biometry and Clinical Epidemiology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, 10117 Berlin, Germany., Brodt S; Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.; Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany., Flöel A; Department of Neurology, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Ferdinand-Sauerbruch-Straße, 17475 Greifswald, Germany.; German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Standort Greifswald, 17489 Greifswald, Germany., Antonenko D; Department of Neurology, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Ferdinand-Sauerbruch-Straße, 17475 Greifswald, Germany. |
| Abstrakt: |
Remembering objects and their associated location (object-location memory; OLM), is a fundamental cognitive function, mediated by cortical and subcortical brain regions. Previously, the combination of OLM training and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) suggested beneficial effects, but the evidence remains heterogeneous. Here, we applied focal tDCS over the right temporoparietal cortex in 52 participants during a two-day OLM training, with anodal tDCS (2 mA, 20 min) or sham (40 s) on the first day. The focal stimulation did not enhance OLM performance on either training day (stimulation effect: -0.09, 95%CI: [-0.19; 0.02], p = 0.08). Higher electric field magnitudes in the target region were not associated with individual performance benefits. Participants with content-related learning strategies showed slightly superior performance compared to participants with position-related strategies. Additionally, training gains were associated with individual verbal learning skills. Consequently, the lack of behavioral benefits through focal tDCS might be due to the involvement of different cognitive processes and brain regions, reflected by participant's learning strategies. Future studies should evaluate whether other brain regions or memory-relevant networks may be involved in the modulation of object-location associations, investigating other target regions, and further exploring individualized stimulation parameters. |
