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Anodal-tDCS over the human right occipital cortex enhances the perception and memory of both faces and objects
- Source :
- Neuropsychologia, 81, 238-244. Elsevier Science
- Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- Accurate face processing skills are pivotal for typical social cognition, and impairments in this ability characterise various clinical conditions (e.g., prosopagnosia). No study to date has investigated whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can causally enhance face processing. In addition, the category- and the process-specificity of tDCS effects, as well as the role of the timing of neuromodulation with respect to the execution of cognitive tasks are still unknown. In this single-blind, sham-controlled study, we examined whether the administration of anodal-tDCS (a-tDCS) over the right occipital cortex of healthy volunteers (N=64) enhances performance on perceptual and memory tasks involving both face and object stimuli. Neuromodulation was delivered in two conditions: online (a-tDCS during task execution) and offline (a-tDCS before task execution). The results demonstrate that offline a-tDCS enhances the perception and memory performance of both faces and objects. There was no effect of online a-tDCS on behaviour. Furthermore, the offline effect was site-specific since a-tDCS over the sensory-motor cortex did not lead to behavioural changes. Our results add relevant information about the breadth of cognitive processes and visual stimuli that can be modulated by tDCS, and about the design of effective neuromodulation protocols, which have implications for advancing theories in cognitive neuroscience and clinical applications.
- Subjects :
- Male
Visual perception
medicine.medical_treatment
Neuropsychological Tests
CORTICAL EXCITABILITY
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
Functional Laterality
tDCS
Behavioral Neuroscience
0302 clinical medicine
Face perception
Object memory
Evoked Potentials
HUMAN MOTOR CORTEX
Transcranial direct-current stimulation
05 social sciences
Cognition
Electroencephalography
Object perception
Middle Aged
HUMAN BRAIN
Pattern Recognition, Visual
SAFETY
Female
Occipital Lobe
Psychology
Cognitive psychology
Adult
Elementary cognitive task
Cognitive Neuroscience
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive neuroscience
Online Systems
050105 experimental psychology
PROSOPAGNOSIA
03 medical and health sciences
Young Adult
Social cognition
Memory
Orientation
medicine
Reaction Time
Humans
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
MODULATION
Analysis of Variance
DIRECT-CURRENT STIMULATION
AREA
Association Learning
DISSOCIATION
Face memory
Face
Occipital lobe
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Photic Stimulation
NEUROPLASTICITY
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00283932
- Volume :
- 81
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Neuropsychologia
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....06e194c0ad16c4dcb1c59ae2385f88dd