ArticleBrain sciences2016
No Effect of Cathodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Fear Memory in Healthy Human Subjects.
Article in Brain sciences, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A Systematic Review on the Effect of Transcranial Direct Current and Magnetic Stimulation on Fear Memory and Extinction.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2021Pooled it
- Does non-invasive brain stimulation modulate emotional stress reactivity?Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2020Pooled it
- Preventing fear return in humans: Music-based intervention during reactivation-extinction paradigm.PloS one · 2024Trial
- Neuromodulation of Fear and Anxiety Circuits.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Review
- Article
- Contemporary Approaches Toward Neuromodulation of Fear Extinction and Its Underlying Neural Circuits.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2023Article
- Is there a neuroscience-based, mechanistic rationale for transcranial direct current stimulation as an adjunct treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder?Behavioral neuroscience · 2021Review
- Augmentation of Extinction and Inhibitory Learning in Anxiety and Trauma-Related Disorders.Annual review of clinical psychology · 2019Review
- Article
- Prefrontal Cortex Stimulation Enhances Fear Extinction Memory in Humans.Biological psychiatry · 2018Article
- Memory creation and modification: Enhancing the treatment of psychological disorders.The American psychologist · 2018Review
- Stimulating Self-Regulation: A Review of Non-invasive Brain Stimulation Studies of Goal-Directed Behavior.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2018Review
- Interference effects of transcranial direct current stimulation over the right frontal cortex and adrenergic system on conditioned fear.Psychopharmacology · 2017Article
- Transcranial direct current stimulation may modulate extinction memory in posttraumatic stress disorder.Brain and behavior · 2017Article
- No Interaction between tDCS Current Strength and Baseline Performance: A Conceptual Replication.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundStudies have demonstrated that fear memories can be modified using non-invasive methods. Recently, we demonstrated that anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is capable of enhancing fear memories. Here, we examined the effects of cathodal tDCS of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during fear reconsolidation in humans.
methodsSeventeen young, healthy subjects were randomly assigned to two groups, which underwent fear conditioning with mild electric stimuli paired with a visual stimulus. Twenty-four hours later, both groups were shown a reminder of the conditioned fearful stimulus. Shortly thereafter, they received either tDCS (right prefrontal-cathodal, left supraorbital-anodal) for 20 min at 1 mA, or sham stimulation. A day later, fear responses of both groups were compared.
resultsOn Day 3, during fear response assessment, there were no significant differences between the tDCS and sham group (
conclusionWe conclude that cathodal tDCS of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (right prefrontal-cathodal, left supraorbital-anodal) did not influence fear memories.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.