Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29238310›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2017

Parameter-Based Evaluation of Attentional Impairments in Schizophrenia and Their Modulation by Prefrontal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation.

Nadine Gögler, Irina Papazova, Tatiana Oviedo-Salcedo, Nina Filipova, Wolfgang Strube, Johanna Funk, Hermann J Müller, Kathrin Finke, Alkomiet Hasan

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  3. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Nadine GöglerDepartment of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany.
Irina PapazovaDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany.
Tatiana Oviedo-SalcedoDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany.
Nina FilipovaDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany.
Wolfgang StrubeDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany.
Johanna FunkDepartment of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany.
Hermann J MüllerDepartment of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany.
Kathrin FinkeDepartment of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany.
Alkomiet HasanDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAttentional dysfunctions constitute core cognitive symptoms in schizophrenia, but the precise underlying neurocognitive mechanisms remain to be elucidated.

methodsIn this randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled study, we applied, for the first time, a theoretically grounded modeling approach based on Bundesen's Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) to (i) identify specific visual attentional parameters affected in schizophrenia and (ii) assess, as a proof of concept, the potential of single-dose anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS; 20 min, 2 mA) to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to modulate these attentional parameters. To that end, attentional parameters were measured before (baseline), immediately after, and 24 h after the tDCS intervention in 20 schizophrenia patients and 20 healthy controls.

resultsAt baseline, analyses revealed significantly reduced visual processing speed and visual short-term memory storage capacity in schizophrenia. A significant stimulation condition × time point interaction in the schizophrenia patient group indicated improved processing speed at the follow-up session only in the sham condition (a practice effect), whereas performance remained stable across the three time points in patients receiving verum stimulation. In healthy controls, anodal tDCS did not result in a significant change in attentional performance.

conclusionWith regard to question (i) above, these findings are indicative of a processing speed and short-term memory deficit as primary sources of attentional deficits in schizophrenia. With regard to question (ii), the efficacy of single-dose anodal tDCS for improving (speed aspects of visual) cognition, it appears that prefrontal tDCS (at the settings used in the present study), rather than ameliorating the processing speed deficit in schizophrenia, actually may interfere with practice-dependent improvements in the rate of visual information uptake. Such potentially unexpected effects of tDCS ought to be taken into consideration when discussing its applicability in psychiatric populations. The study was registered at http://apps.who.int/trialsearch/Trial2.aspx?TrialID=DRKS00011665.

Indexed as

dorsolateral prefrontal cortexschizophreniatheory of visual attentiontranscranial direct current stimulationvisual processing speedvisual short-term memory

Identifiers

PMID29238310
PMCPMC5712554

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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.