Skip to main content
OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT03959462

Supporting Decisions With Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Healthy Young and Elderly Individuals

Decisions are part of the daily life. On the neuronal level, activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is important during complex decisions (e.g., whether something is emotional for a person or not). We apply transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with the aim to increase dlPFC activity and thereby modulate decisions towards emotional content.

Completed

Looking for future studies?

Notify Me

Key information

Conditions

Real tDCS Sham tDCS

Age range

20 year–30 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Klinik für Alterspsychiatrie und Psychotherapie UPD Bern

Bern, 3000, Switzerland

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Written informed consent
  • Non-smokers
  • Right-handedness
  • Native German speakers or comparable level of fluency
  • Normal or corrected-to-normal vision

Exclusion criteria

  • Neurological or psychiatric condition (other than diagnosed cognitive impairment)
  • Past head injuries
  • Magnetizable implants
  • History of seizures
  • Current or life-time alcohol or drug abuse
  • Skin diseases
  • tES in the 3 months preceding or during the present study
  • Caffeine 3 hours prior to training

Treatment and study plan

real anodal transcranial direct current stimulation

Device

A neuroConn DC-Stimulator PLUS (neuroCare Group, Ilmenau, Germany) will be used.

Sham Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Device

A neuroConn DC-Stimulator PLUS (neuroCare Group, Ilmenau, Germany) will be used.

Primary outcomes

  1. Influence of Stimulation on the Decisions

    Time frame: 10 minutes

    Number of words which were rated as positive or negative.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Profile of Mood States (POMS; before stimulation)

    Time frame: 3 minutes

    Changes in the subjective measure mood, assessed with questionnaire Scores for each item is recorded as 0 for "not at all" up to 6 for "very strong". A Total Mood Disturbance (TMD) score is calculated by summing the totals for the negative subscales dejection (14 items), fatigue (7 items) and discontent (7 items) and then subtracting the total for the positive subscale zest (7 items).

  2. Profile of Mood States (POMS; after stimulation)

    Time frame: 3 minutes

    Changes in the subjective measure mood, assessed with questionnaire Scores for each item is recorded as 0 for "not at all" up to 6 for "very strong". A Total Mood Disturbance (TMD) score is calculated by summing the totals for the negative subscales dejection (14 items), fatigue (7 items) and discontent (7 items) and then subtracting the total for the positive subscale zest (7 items).

  3. Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; before stimulation)

    Time frame: 2 minutes

    Changes in the subjective measure mood, assessed with self-report questionnaire divided into two mood scales. One scale measures a person's positive emotion and the other scale measures the negative. Each segment has ten terms, which can be rated on a scale of 1 to 5 to indicate the extent to which the respondent agrees that this applies to him (higher values means higher agreement).

  4. Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; after stimulation)

    Time frame: 2 minutes

    Changes in the subjective measure mood, assessed with self-report questionnaire divided into two mood scales. One scale measures a person's positive emotion and the other scale measures the negative. Each segment has ten terms, which can be rated on a scale of 1 to 5 to indicate the extent to which the respondent agrees that this applies to him (higher values means higher agreement).

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Bern

Other

Collaborators

  • Novartis

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2018
Primary completion
2022
Study completion
2022
First posted
May 22, 2019
Registry last updated
May 10, 2023

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Related clinical trials

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.