Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with cognitive training in adolescent boys with ADHD: a double-blind, randomised, sham-controlled trial

Journal article

This rigorous and largest RCT of tDCS in adolescent boys with ADHD found no evidence of improved ADHD symptoms or cognitive performance following multi-session anodal tDCS over rIFC combined with CT. These findings extend limited meta-analytic evidence of cognitive and clinical effects in ADHD after 1-5 tDCS sessions over mainly left dlPFC. Given that tDCS is commercially and clinically available, the findings are important as they suggest that rIFC stimulation may not be indicated as a neurotherapy for cognitive or clinical remediation for ADHD.

Authors: Westwood, SJ; Criaud, M; Lam, S-L; Lukito, S; Wallace-Hanlon, S

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Journal: Psychological Medicine
• Volume: 53
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 1-16
• Publication date: 2021-07-06
• DOI: 10.1017/s0033291721001859
• EISSN: 1469-8978
• ISSN: 0033-2917
• Language: English
• Keywords: Psychiatry; Brain stimulation; Stimulation; Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance; Medicine; Cognition; Physical medicine and rehabilitation; Developmental psychology; Rating scale; Psychology; Prefrontal cortex; Audiology; Randomized controlled trial; Cognitive training; Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Transcranial direct-current stimulation; Neuroscience; Internal medicine