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Title: Transcranial direct current stimulation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during encoding improves recall but not recognition memory

Abstract

Prior work demonstrates that application of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improves memory. In this study, we investigated tDCS effects on face-name associative memory using both recall and recognition tests. Participants encoded face-name pairs under either active (1.5 mA) or sham (.1 mA) stimulation applied to the scalp adjacent to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), an area known to support associative memory. Participants’ memory was then tested after study (day one) and then again after a 24-h delay (day two), to assess both immediate and delayed stimulation effects on memory. Results indicated that active relative to sham stimulation led to substantially improved recall (more than 50%) at both day one and day two. Recognition memory performance did not differ between stimulation groups at either time point. These results suggest that stimulation at encoding improves memory performance by enhancing memory for details that enable a rich recollective experience, but that these improvements are evident only under some testing conditions, especially those that rely on recollection. Altogether, stimulation of the dlPFC could have led to recall improvement through enhanced encoding from stimulation or from carryover effects of stimulation that influenced retrieval processes, or both.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States)
  2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
National Institutes of Health (NIH); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
OSTI Identifier:
1421859
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1549355
Report Number(s):
SAND-2017-13369J
Journal ID: ISSN 0028-3932; 659419
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC04-94AL85000; NA0003525
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Neuropsychologia
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 106; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0028-3932
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES; Brain stimulation; tDCS; dlPFC; Immediate effects of tDCS; Delayed effects of tDCS; Associative memory; Recall; Recognition; Episodic memory

Citation Formats

Leshikar, Eric D., Leach, Ryan C., McCurdy, Matthew P., Trumbo, Michael Christopher Stefan, Sklenar, Allison M., Frankenstein, Andrea N., and Matzen, Laura E. Transcranial direct current stimulation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during encoding improves recall but not recognition memory. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.10.022.
Leshikar, Eric D., Leach, Ryan C., McCurdy, Matthew P., Trumbo, Michael Christopher Stefan, Sklenar, Allison M., Frankenstein, Andrea N., & Matzen, Laura E. Transcranial direct current stimulation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during encoding improves recall but not recognition memory. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.10.022
Leshikar, Eric D., Leach, Ryan C., McCurdy, Matthew P., Trumbo, Michael Christopher Stefan, Sklenar, Allison M., Frankenstein, Andrea N., and Matzen, Laura E. Thu . "Transcranial direct current stimulation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during encoding improves recall but not recognition memory". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.10.022. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1421859.
@article{osti_1421859,
title = {Transcranial direct current stimulation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during encoding improves recall but not recognition memory},
author = {Leshikar, Eric D. and Leach, Ryan C. and McCurdy, Matthew P. and Trumbo, Michael Christopher Stefan and Sklenar, Allison M. and Frankenstein, Andrea N. and Matzen, Laura E.},
abstractNote = {Prior work demonstrates that application of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improves memory. In this study, we investigated tDCS effects on face-name associative memory using both recall and recognition tests. Participants encoded face-name pairs under either active (1.5 mA) or sham (.1 mA) stimulation applied to the scalp adjacent to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), an area known to support associative memory. Participants’ memory was then tested after study (day one) and then again after a 24-h delay (day two), to assess both immediate and delayed stimulation effects on memory. Results indicated that active relative to sham stimulation led to substantially improved recall (more than 50%) at both day one and day two. Recognition memory performance did not differ between stimulation groups at either time point. These results suggest that stimulation at encoding improves memory performance by enhancing memory for details that enable a rich recollective experience, but that these improvements are evident only under some testing conditions, especially those that rely on recollection. Altogether, stimulation of the dlPFC could have led to recall improvement through enhanced encoding from stimulation or from carryover effects of stimulation that influenced retrieval processes, or both.},
doi = {10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.10.022},
journal = {Neuropsychologia},
number = C,
volume = 106,
place = {United States},
year = {2017},
month = {10}
}

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Cited by: 44 works
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