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Updated: Jan 27, 2026

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation tDCS for Memory Enhancement
Published on: September 18, 2021
Bihemispheric anodal transcranial direct-current stimulation over temporal cortex enhances auditory selective spatial
Jörg Lewald1,2
1Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Cognitive Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Postfach 51-IB 6/61, 44780, Bochum, Germany. joerg.lewald@rub.de.
Abstract:
The capacity to selectively focus on a particular speaker of interest in a complex acoustic environment with multiple persons speaking simultaneously-a so-called "cocktail-party" situation-is of decisive importance for human verbal communication. Here, the efficacy of single-dose transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) in improving this ability was tested in young healthy adults (n = 24), using a spatial task that required the localization of a target word in a simulated "cocktail-party" situation. In a sham-controlled crossover design, offline bihemispheric double-monopolar anodal tDCS was applied for 30 min at 1 mA over auditory regions of temporal lobe, and the participant's performance was assessed prior to tDCS, immediately after tDCS, and 1 h after tDCS. A significant increase in the amount of correct localizations by on average 3.7 percentage points (d = 1.04) was found after active, relative to sham, tDCS, with only insignificant reduction of the effect within 1 h after tDCS offset. Thus, the method of bihemispheric tDCS could be a promising tool for enhancement of human auditory attentional functions that are relevant for spatial orientation and communication in everyday life.
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