ArticleInternational journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHP
Modulating prefrontal cortex activity to alleviate stress-induced working memory deficits: A transcranial direct current (tDCS) study.
Article in International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHP. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Transcranial direct current stimulation enhances cognitive performance and modulates QEEG beta- and theta-band power in patients undergoing whole-brain radiotherapy.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2026Article
- Mechanistic insights into combined prefrontal tDCS and vagal nerve stimulation for stress regulation.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Review
- Prefrontal Hemodynamics Underlie the Synergistic Effect of Tai Chi Combined with Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Memory in Patients with MCI: An Exploratory fNIRS Study.International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHPArticle
- Multimodal assessment of acute stress dynamics using an aversive video paradigm (AVP).International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHPArticle
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This study explores the impact of stress on working memory (WM) performance, and the potential mitigating effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). The study had a mixed, randomized, single-blind, sham-controlled design, with stress induction as within-subject and stimulation condition as between-subject factors. We assessed stress-induced WM deficits using aversive video clips to induce stress and a verbal n-back task to assess WM performance. We analyzed physiological (cortisol and heart rate), behavioral, and electroencephalographic (EEG) changes due to stress before, during, and after WM task performance and their modulation by tDCS. Stress impaired WM performance in the sham stimulation condition for the 3-back load, but not for 2-back or 4-back loads in the WM task and was associated with elevated physiological stress markers. tDCS over the vmPFC led to better WM task performance while stimulation over the dlPFC did not. Active tDCS with both dlPFC and vmPFC stimulation blunted cortisol release in stress conditions compared to sham. The EEG analysis revealed potential mechanisms explaining the behavioral effects of vmPFC stimulation. vmPFC stimulation led to a decreased P200 event-related potential (ERP) component compared to the sham stimulation condition and resulted in higher task-related alpha desynchronization, indicating reduced distractions and better focus during task performance. This study thus shows that the vmPFC might be a potential target for mitigating the effects of stress on WM performance and contributes to the development of targeted interventions for stress-related cognitive impairments.
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