ArticleHuman brain mapping2023
Are we really targeting and stimulating DLPFC by placing transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) electrodes over F3/F4?
Article in Human brain mapping, 2023. 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.
- Challenges and future directions of transcranial direct current stimulation for depression: insights from a systematic review and meta-analysis.Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999) · 2025Pooled it
- An electric field modeling study with meta-analysis to understand the antidepressant effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999)Pooled it
- Personalized High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for the Treatment of Depression: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Combined With Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Depression: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- Convergence of TMS Sites and Lesion Locations Associated With Nicotine Addiction Improvement on a Common Brain Circuit.The American journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- Methods of Computational Modelling in Studies of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) in Adults to Inform Protocols for Tinnitus Treatment: A Scoping Review.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Four dimensions of individualization in brain stimulation for psychiatric disorders: context, target, dose, and timing.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Review
- Targeting VMPFC-amygdala circuit with TMS in substance use disorder: A mechanistic framework.Addiction biology · 2025Article
- Effect of tDCS targeting the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on psychophysiological responses and brain oxygenation during exercise in healthy adults: a proof-of-concept randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Converging Evidence for Frontopolar Cortex as a Target for Neuromodulation in Addiction Treatment.The American journal of psychiatry · 2024Review
- Opportunities and obstacles in non-invasive brain stimulation.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2024Article
- Evaluation of tolerability and safety of transcranial electrical stimulation with gel particle electrodes in healthy subjects.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Are we really targeting and stimulating DLPFC by placing transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) electrodes over F3/F4?Human brain mapping · 2023Article
- Optimizing Individual Targeting of Fronto-Amygdala Network with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS): Biophysical, Physiological and Behavioral Variations in People with Methamphetamine Use Disorder.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2023Article
- Prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation over the right prefrontal cortex reduces proactive and reactive control performance towards emotional material in healthy individuals.International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHPArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In many clinical trials involving transcranial electrical stimulation (tES), target electrodes are typically placed over DLPFC with the assumption that this will primarily stimulate the underlying brain region. However, our study aimed to evaluate the electric fields (EF) that are actually delivered and identify prefrontal regions that may be inadvertently targeted in DLPFC tES. Head models were generated from the Human Connectome Project database's T1 + T2-weighted MRIs of 80 healthy adults. Two common DLPFC montages were simulated; symmetric-F4/F3, and asymmetric-F4/Fp1. Averaged EF was extracted from (1) the center of the target electrode (F4), and (2) the top 1% of voxels showing the strongest EF in individualized EF maps. Interindividual variabilities were quantified with the standard deviation of EF peak location/value. Similar steps were repeated with 66 participants with methamphetamine use disorder (MUDs) as an independent clinical population. In healthy adults, the group-level location of EF peaks was situated in the medial-frontopolar, and the individualized EF peaks were positioned in a cube with a volume of 29 cm
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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.