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Theory of Mind Performance Predicts tDCS-Mediated Effects on the Medial Prefrontal Cortex: A Pilot Study to Investigate the Role of Sex and Age.

ABSTRACT: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) has become an increasingly promising tool for understanding the relationship between brain and behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the magnitude of sex- and age-related tDCS effects previously found in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) during a Theory of Mind (ToM) task correlates with social cognition performance; in particular, we explored whether different patterns of activity would be detected in high- and low-performing participants. For this, young and elderly, male and female participants were categorized as a low- or high-performer according to their score on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes task. Furthermore, we explored whether sex- and age-related effects associated with active tDCS on the mPFC were related to cognitive functioning. We observed the following results: (i) elderly participants experience a significant decline in ToM performance compared to young participants; (ii) low-performing elderly females report slowing of reaction time when anodal tDCS is applied over the mPFC during a ToM task; and (iii) low-performing elderly females are characterized by lower scores in executive control functions, verbal fluency and verbal short-term memory. The relationship between tDCS results and cognitive functioning is discussed in light of the neuroscientific literature on sex- and age-related differences.

SUBMITTER: Cotelli M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7288024 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Theory of Mind Performance Predicts tDCS-Mediated Effects on the Medial Prefrontal Cortex: A Pilot Study to Investigate the Role of Sex and Age.

Cotelli Maria M Manenti Rosa R Gobbi Elena E Enrici Ivan I Rusich Danila D Ferrari Clarissa C Adenzato Mauro M

Brain sciences 20200428 5

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) has become an increasingly promising tool for understanding the relationship between brain and behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the magnitude of sex- and age-related tDCS effects previously found in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) during a Theory of Mind (ToM) task correlates with social cognition performance; in particular, we explored whether different patterns of activity would be detected in high- and low-perfor ...[more]

PMID: 32353992

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Project description:OBJECTIVES:Implicit regulation of emotions involves medial-prefrontal cortex (mPFC) regions exerting regulatory control over limbic structures. Diminished regulation relates to aberrant mPFC functionality and psychopathology. Establishing means of modulating mPFC functionality could benefit research on emotion and its dysregulation. Here, we tested the capacity of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) targeting mPFC to modulate subjective emotional states by facilitating implicit emotion regulation. MATERIALS AND METHODS:Stimulation was applied concurrently with functional magnetic resonance imaging to validate its neurobehavioral effect. Sixteen participants were each scanned twice, counterbalancing active and sham tDCS application, while undergoing negative mood induction (clips featuring negative vs. neutral contents). Effects of stimulation on emotional experience were assessed using subjective and neural measures. RESULTS:Subjectively, active stimulation led to significant reduction in reported intensity of experienced emotions to negatively valenced (p?=?0.005) clips but not to neutral clips (p?>?0.99). Active stimulation further mitigated a rise in stress levels from pre- to post-induction (sham: p?=?0.004; active: p?=?0.15). Neurally, stimulation increased activation in mPFC regions associated with implicit emotion regulation (ventromedial-prefrontal cortex; subgenual anterior-cingulate cortex, sgACC), and in ventral striatum, a core limbic structure (all ps?<?0.05). Stimulation also altered functional connectivity (assessed using whole-brain psycho-physiological interaction) between these regions, and with additional limbic regions. Stimulation-induced sgACC activation correlated with reported emotion intensity and depressive symptoms (rs?>?0.64, ps?<?0.018), suggesting individual differences in stimulation responsivity. CONCLUSIONS:Results of this study indicate the potential capacity of tDCS to facilitate brain activation in mPFC regions underlying implicit regulation of emotion and accordingly modulate subjective emotional experiences.

Dataset Information

Theory of Mind Performance Predicts tDCS-Mediated Effects on the Medial Prefrontal Cortex: A Pilot Study to Investigate the Role of Sex and Age.

Publications

Theory of Mind Performance Predicts tDCS-Mediated Effects on the Medial Prefrontal Cortex: A Pilot Study to Investigate the Role of Sex and Age.

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