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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Brain Imaging and Stimulation
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1485037
This article is part of the Research Topic Advances in Brain Imaging and Stimulation Methods for Cognitive Function Investigation Volume II View all articles

Effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on modulating executive functions in healthy populations: A systematic and metaanalysis

Provisionally accepted
Guopeng You Guopeng You 1Xinliang Pan Xinliang Pan 2Jun Li Jun Li 3Shaocong Zhao Shaocong Zhao 1*
  • 1 Department of Physical Education, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen, China
  • 2 School of Kinesiology, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China
  • 3 School of Athletic Performance, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Conventional research has asserted that cognitive function, particularly, response inhibition, is closely related to the inferior frontal cortex (IFC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), or orbital frontal cortex (OFC), which belong to the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Different targets of anodal or cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS or c-tDCS) would affect the experimental results, but the stimulation of the same brain target would produce inconsistent findings.Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effects of a-tDCS and c-tDCS applied over the PFC for healthy populations on reactive and proactive control process compared with sham or no tDCS conditions, as assessed using the Stop-signal task (SST) and Go/NoGo (GNG) task performance.Methods: This systematic review was performed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. Search was conducted on Web of Science, Google Scholar, PubMed, Elsevier, Scopus, and Science Direct until March 2024. Studies that assessed the inhibitory control in SST or/and GNG tasks were included to achieve a homogenous sample.Results: Fourteen studies were included for meta-analyses, which were performed for two outcome measures, namely, stop-signal reaction time (SSRT) and commission error (CE) rate. A-tDCS and c-tDCS over the PFC had significant ergogenic effects on SST performance (mean difference = -17.03, 95% CI [-24.62, -9.43], p < 0.0001; mean difference = -15.19, 95% CI [-19.82, -10.55], p ˂ 0.00001), and that of a-tDCS had a positive effect on GNG task performance (mean difference = -1.42, 95% CI [-2.71, -0.14], p = 0.03).This review confirmed the engagement of PFC tDCS in reactive and proactive inhibitory processes. Future research should increase sample size and implement personalized stimulus protocols.

    Keywords: response inhibition, Prefrontal Cortex, neural activity, stop-signal task, go/nogo task

    Received: 23 Aug 2024; Accepted: 27 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 You, Pan, Li and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Shaocong Zhao, Department of Physical Education, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.