1. Division of Intelligent and Biomechanical System, State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China 2. Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China 3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China 4. School of Electromechanical and Automotive Engineering, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China
This study investigated whether transcranial direct current stimulation can increase the visual attention span and the controlling mechanism for this effect through EEG (electroencephalogram) analyses. Seven healthy subjects participated in three experiments on three different days for comparison. Two stimulation protocols, anodal and cathodal stimulation, were performed on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with sham stimulations used in control tests. The visual attention span of the anodal stimulation group was significantly improved compared with the control (p=0.034 7), while that of the cathodal stimulation group was significantly reduced (p=0.029 4). The EEG records showed that the prestimulus alpha power was significantly reduced in the anodal stimulation group with difficulty string lengths of 3~5. The result indicated that transcranial direct current stimulation can modulate the prestimulus Alpha power which influences the visual attention span.
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