Article

The present study investigated the effects of transcranial weak electrical
stimulation techniques applied to the right and left dorsolateral prefrontal
cortex (DLPFC) on categorization learning measured using a variant of the prototype distortion task. During the training phase of this task subjects saw
low- and high distortions of a prototype dot-pattern. 60 participants received
10min of either anodal or cathodal transcranial direct current (tDCS),
transcranial random noise (tRNS) or sham stimulation before and during the training. We have assessed the effects of the intervention during a test phase,
where the subjects had to decide whether the consecutive high- and low-distortion
versions of the prototype or random patterns that were presented belonged to the category established in the training phase. Our results show that the
categorization of prototypes is significantly impaired by the application of
anodal tDCS and tRNS to the DLPFC. The prototype-effect, observable in the case
of the sham stimulation group, was severed in all active stimulation conditions.
CI - Copyright (c) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS