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Updated: Dec 8, 2025
High-definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex to Enhance Metacognitive Sensitivity
Published on: September 26, 2025
High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation facilitates emotional face processing in individuals with
Yuxi Qiao1, Qian Hu1, Rongrong Xuan1
1Department of Medical Psychology, Chaohu Clinical Medical College, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei 230032, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China.
Abstract:
The deficit in emotional face processing is a critical impairment for individuals with high autistic traits. The temporalparietal junction(TPJ) is considered to be closely related to emotional face processing. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of highdefinition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) over the right temporal-parietal junction (rTPJ) on facial emotion processing of individuals with high autistic traits using eye-tracking technology. Twenty-nine participants with high autistic traits completed an eyetracking task (including happy, fearful and neutral faces) before and after five consecutive days of stimulation (anodal or sham). Results showed that anodal HD-tDCS significantly increased fixation time and fixation count in the mouth area, but this effect was not found after the sham stimulation. Moreover, this increased effect of mouth recognition with anodal rTPJ HD-tDCS was shown in both happy and fearful faces, but no remarkable difference was found in neutral faces. These findings suggest that right TPJ anodal HD-tDCS can facilitate emotional face processing in individuals with high autistic traits.
