Trial reportBiological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging2021
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to the Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Improves Cognitive Control in Patients With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Randomized Behavioral and Neurophysiological Study.
Trial report in Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06658795 (Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Loneliness in Older Adults With Depression), which is not on this map. Cited by 25 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Loneliness in Older Adults With Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Therapeutic effects of tDCS on behavioral and cognitive functions in adults diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis on randomized controlled trials.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- The efficacy and safety of transcranial direct current stimulation in patients with ADHD: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Biomarker use in predicting transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) response: a systematic scoping review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- [Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. A systematic review].Revista de neurologia · 2024Pooled it
- The effects of transcranial random noise stimulation on excitation/inhibition balance in ADHD.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2026Trial
- Combined tDCS and Neuropsychological Treatment for Adult ADHD: A Single-Case Feasibility Study on Cognitive and Emotional Outcomes.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Digital health technologies for adults with ADHD: a scoping review.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Review
- HD-tDCS improves conflict processing and general behavioral stability.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Neurostimulation to Improve Cognitive Flexibility.Current opinion in behavioral sciences · 2025Article
- Research progress of tDCS in the treatment of ADHD.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2025Review
- Verbal fluency tasks and attention problems in children with ADHD: evidence from fNIRS.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Dual-target tDCS and dual-task training modulate neuroinflammation and neuroplasticity: transcriptomic and behavioral evidence in stroke rehabilitation.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2025Article
- Noninvasive Brain Stimulation for Improving Cognitive Deficits and Clinical Symptoms in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Brain sciences · 2024Review
- Treatment of adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS): study protocol for a parallel, randomized, double-blinded, sham-controlled, multicenter trial (Stim-ADHD).European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2024Article
- Effects of multisession prefrontal cortex tDCS or taVNS on stress, perceived stress and sleep quality: a double-blind, randomized controlled study.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Exploring the Frontiers of Neuroimaging: A Review of Recent Advances in Understanding Brain Functioning and Disorders.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in the Right Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex Lengthens Sustained Attention in Virtual Reality.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Improves Decision-Making Ability: A Study Based on EEG.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex improves attentional control in chronically stressed adults.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Article
- Cerebellar transcranial magnetic stimulation in psychotic disorders: intermittent, continuous, and sham theta-burst stimulation on time perception and symptom severity.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAttention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with significant morbidity and mortality that may affect over 5% of children and approximately 2.8% of adults worldwide. Pharmacological and behavioral therapies for ADHD exist, but critical symptoms such as dysexecutive deficits remain unaffected. In a randomized, sham-controlled, double-blind, crossover mechanistic study, we assessed the cognitive and physiological effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in 40 adult patients with ADHD in order to identify diagnostic (cross-sectional) and treatment biomarkers (targets).
methodsPatients performed three experimental sessions in which they received 30 minutes of 2 mA anodal tDCS targeting the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, 30 minutes of 2 mA anodal tDCS targeting the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and 30 minutes of sham. Before and after each session, half the patients completed the Eriksen flanker task and the other half completed the stop signal task while we assessed behavior (reaction time, accuracy) and neurophysiology (event-related potentials).
resultsAnodal tDCS to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex modulated cognitive (reaction time) and physiological (P300 amplitude) measures in the Eriksen flanker task in a state-dependent manner, but no effects were found in the stop signal reaction time of the stop signal task.
conclusionsThese findings show procognitive effects in ADHD associated with the modulation of event-related potential signatures of cognitive control, linking target engagement with cognitive benefit, proving the value of event-related potentials as cross-sectional biomarkers of executive performance, and mechanistically supporting the state-dependent nature of tDCS. We interpret these results as an improvement in cognitive control but not action cancellation, supporting the existence of different impulsivity constructs with overlapping but distinct anatomical substrates, and highlighting the implications for the development of individualized therapeutics.
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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.