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Related Experiment Videos

Transcranial direct current stimulation can enhance working memory in Huntington's disease.

Clare M Eddy1, Kimron Shapiro2, Andrew Clouter2

  • 1National Centre for Mental Health, BSMHFT, Birmingham and College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK.

Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry
|April 10, 2017
PubMed
Summary

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Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improved working memory (WM) in Huntington

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Neurology
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive movement disorder characterized by cognitive decline.
  • Working memory (WM) deficits are common early in HD and impact daily functioning.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess if transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with cognitive training enhances WM in HD patients.
  • To identify if baseline clinical or cognitive measures predict tDCS efficacy.

Main Methods:

  • A randomized, double-blind, crossover trial involving 20 HD participants.
  • Participants received 1.5mA anodal tDCS or sham stimulation over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
  • Cognitive tasks, including WM tasks (digit reordering, n-back), were performed pre- and post-stimulation.
Keywords:
CognitionDorsolateral prefrontal cortexHuntington's diseaseMovement disorderWorking memorytDCS

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • tDCS significantly improved WM span on the digit reordering task compared to sham stimulation.
  • WM improvements correlated positively with motor symptom severity and negatively with verbal fluency.
  • Patients with more severe motor symptoms demonstrated the greatest WM gains.

Conclusions:

  • Anodal tDCS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is well-tolerated and enhances WM span in HD patients.
  • Motor symptom severity may predict responsiveness to tDCS-enhanced cognitive training.
  • Further research is warranted to explore tDCS for improving functional outcomes in HD.