Modulating reward learning in healthy adults with transcranial direct current stimulation: Towards a novel treatment for depression

Thesis

It has recently been proposed that deficits in reinforcement learning are a core feature of depressive disorders. This thesis aimed to investigate whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) could be applied to alter these learning processes in healthy adults and individuals with symptoms of depression. A first study assessed the psychometric properties of a computerised reinforcement learning task, which was the main paradigm used in the tDCS studies. Next, a neurostimulation s...

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Authors: Overman, M

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Depression; reinforcement learning; transcranial direct current stimulation; computational; tDCS
• Subjects: clinical neuroscience; computational psychiatry