Effect of high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation on visual spatial working memory in patients with schizophrenia / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effect of high-definition transcranial direct current stimula-tion on visual spatial working memory in patients with schizophrenia. Methods Sixty-six patients with schizophrenia were enrolled in a randomized,double-blind,placebo-controlled study. The subjects were ran-domized into a true stimulation group of 33 patients and a placebo control group of 33 patients,each patient only received one stimulation. After receiving a stimulus,the left dorsolateral prefrontal lobe was stimulated by high-precision transcranial direct current. The true stimulation group was stimulated with a current of 1. 5 mA for 20 min. The control group used pseudo-stimulation,and only the current was passed within 30 s of the beginning and the end of the stimulation. Both groups completed the neuropsychological background test and the n-back task before stimulation,and the stimulation was performed after five days. After the stimula-tion,the two groups completed the n-back task again,and compared the Changes in grades to reflect changes in working memory before and after the pseudo-stimulation. Results Before the stimulation,the response rate of the 3-back task was compared with that of the control group ((0. 32±0. 21),(0. 32±0. 22)),the true stimulation group ((0. 28 ± 0. 19), ( 0. 35 ± 0. 21)), and the difference was statistically significant ( F=5. 298,P=0. 025). Conclusion Using high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation to stimulate the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex using can improve the visual memory function of patients. In the future,this technique can be applied to the cognitive promotion of memory impairment in patients with schizophrenia.