Transcranial electrical stimulation modulates emotional experience and metabolites in the prefrontal cortex in a donation task.
Sci Rep
; 14(1): 14271, 2024 06 20.
Article
de En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38902321
ABSTRACT
Understanding the neural, metabolic, and psychological mechanisms underlying human altruism and decision-making is a complex and important topic both for science and society. Here, we investigated whether transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) applied to two prefrontal cortex regions, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC, anode) and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC, cathode) can induce changes in self-reported emotions and to modulate local metabolite concentrations. We employed in vivo quantitative MR Spectroscopy in healthy adult participants and quantified changes in GABA and Glx (glutamate + glutamine) before and after five sessions of tDCS delivered at 2 mA for 20 min (active group) and 1 min (sham group) while participants were engaged in a charitable donation task. In the active group, we observed increased levels of GABA in vmPFC. Glx levels decreased in both prefrontal regions and self-reported happiness increased significantly over time in the active group. Self-reported guiltiness in both active and sham groups tended to decrease. The results indicate that self-reported happiness can be modulated, possibly due to changes in Glx concentrations following repeated stimulation. Therefore, local changes may induce remote changes in the reward network through interactions with other metabolites, previously thought to be unreachable with noninvasive stimulation techniques.
Texte intégral:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Base de données:
MEDLINE
Sujet principal:
Cortex préfrontal
/
Émotions
/
Stimulation transcrânienne par courant continu
/
Acide gamma-amino-butyrique
Limites:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
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Male
Langue:
En
Journal:
Sci Rep
Année:
2024
Type de document:
Article
Pays d'affiliation:
Brésil