The Effect of Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on the verbal working memory in children with mild intellectual disabilities

Subject Areas : Tectonostratigraphy

Nazi Ramezani Golafzani ¹ , Abolfazl Karami ² , Reza Rostami ³

1 - Department of psychology, Semnan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Semnan, Iran
2 - Department of psychology ،Semnan Branch ، Islamic Azad University ،Semnan ،Iran
3 - Department of psychology, psychology and education branch, Tehran university, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2020-11-16 Accepted : 2021-10-12 Published : 2021-10-23

Keywords: Verbal Working memory, Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), mild intellectual disabilities,

Abstract :

One of the most important areas of cognitive impairment in children with intellectual disabilities is related to working memory. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive brain stimulation that has been studied as a way to increase cortical excitability and enhance working memory. This research aimed to analyze the efficacy of tDCS on verbal working memory of children with borderline intellectual functioning. The research method was quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with control group. The statistical population was children who visited the Atieh clinic and were diagnosed with mild mental disability based on clinical interview and Tehran-Stanford-Binet IQ scale. Through convenience sampling, 30 people were collected from this population and were assigned randomly into experimental and control groups. The experimental group was provided 5 consecutive sessions of electrical stimulation in the Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex area with an intensity of 1 mA and a duration of 30 minutes. The data was analyzed using one-way ANCOVA and results illustrated that the Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) interventions has statistically meaningful positive effect on the verbal working memory of the children with borderline intellectual functioning

References:

1. McLeskey MSRJ. Primary characteristics of students with intellectual disabilities. Special Education for Today’s Teachers. 2013;


2. Alloway TP, Gathercole SE, Kirkwood H, Elliott J. The cognitive and behavioral characteristics of children with low working memory. Child Development. 2009;80(2).


3. Lanfranchi S, Carretti B. Editorial: Improving working memory in learning and intellectual disabilities. Vol. 7, Frontiers in Psychology. 2016.


4. Brunoni AR, Nitsche MA, Bolognini N, Bikson M, Wagner T, Merabet L, et al. Clinical research with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS): Challenges and future directions. Vol. 5, Brain Stimulation. 2012.


5. Cooke SF, Bliss TVP. Plasticity in the human central nervous system. Vol. 129, Brain. 2006.


6. Minear M, Shah P. Sources of Working Memory Deficits in Children and Possibilities for Remediation. In: Working Memory and Education. 2006.


7. Palomino E, López-Frutos JM, Botella J, Sotillo M. Impairment of cognitive memory inhibition in individuals with intellectual disability: A meta-analysis. Psicothema. 2019;31(4).


8. Alloway TP. Working memory and executive function profiles of individuals with borderline intellectual functioning. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research. 2010;54(5).


9. Park DC, Lautenschlager G, Hedden T, Davidson NS, Smith AD, Smith PK. Models of visuospatial and verbal memory across the adult life span. Psychology and Aging. 2002;17(2).


10. Liebetanz D, Nitsche MA, Tergau F, Paulus W. Pharmacological approach to the mechanisms of transcranial DC-stimulation-induced after-effects of human motor cortex excitability. Brain. 2002;125(10).


11. Zaehle T, Sandmann P, Thorne JD, Jäncke L, Herrmann CS. Transcranial direct current stimulation of the prefrontal cortex modulates working memory performance: Combined behavioural and electrophysiological evidence. BMC Neuroscience. 2011;12.


12. Barbey AK, Koenigs M, Grafman J. Dorsolateral prefrontal contributions to human working memory. Cortex. 2013;49(5).


13. Ohn SH, Park C il, Yoo WK, Ko MH, Choi KP, Kim GM, et al. Time-dependent effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on the enhancement of working memory. NeuroReport. 2008;19(1).


14. Nitsche MA, Seeber A, Frommann K, Klein CC, Rochford C, Nitsche MS, et al. Modulating parameters of excitability during and after transcranial direct current stimulation of the human motor cortex. Journal of Physiology. 2005;568(1).


15. DaSilva AF, Volz MS, Bikson M, Fregni F. Electrode positioning and montage in transcranial direct current stimulation. Journal of Visualized Experiments. 2011;(51).


16. Talsma LJ, Kroese HA, Slagter HA. Boosting cognition: Effects of multiple-session transcranial direct current stimulation on working memory. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 2017;29(4).


17. Au J, Katz B, Buschkuehl M, Bunarjo K, Senger T, Zabel C, et al. Enhancing working memory training with transcranial direct current stimulation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 2016;28(9).


18. Hoy KE, Arnold SL, Emonson MRL, Daskalakis ZJ, Fitzgerald PB. An investigation into the effects of tDCS dose on cognitive performance over time in patients with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research. 2014;155(1–3).


19. Lanfranchi S, Cornoldi C, Vianello R. Verbal and visuospatial working memory deficits in children with Down syndrome. American Journal on Mental Retardation. 2004;109(6).


20. Peng P, Fuchs D. A Meta-Analysis of Working Memory Deficits in Children With Learning Difficulties: Is There a Difference Between Verbal Domain and Numerical Domain? Journal of Learning Disabilities. 2016;49(1).


21. Nejati V, Salehinejad MA, Nitsche MA, Najian A, Javadi AH. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Improves Executive Dysfunctions in ADHD: Implications for Inhibitory Control, Interference Control, Working Memory, and Cognitive Flexibility. Journal of Attention Disorders. 2020;24(13).


22. Costanzo F, Rossi S, Varuzza C, Varvara P, Vicari S, Menghini D. Long-lasting improvement following tDCS treatment combined with a training for reading in children and adolescents with dyslexia. Neuropsychologia. 2019;130.


23. Shiri Aminloo M, Kamkary K, Shokrzadeh S. The concurrent validity of the new version of the Tehran. Stanford-Binet intelligence scale with the Wechsler intelligence scale for children-revised. Except Educ [Internet]. 2013 [cited 2021 Oct 8];7(120):50–61.


24. Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales and Revised Versions. In: SpringerReference. 2012.


25. Jantz TK, Katz B, Reuter-Lorenz PA. Uncertainty and Promise: the Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Working Memory. Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports. 2016;3(2).


26. Palm U, Segmiller FM, Epple AN, Freisleder FJ, Koutsouleris N, Schulte-Körne G, et al. Transcranial direct current stimulation in children and adolescents: a comprehensive review. Vol. 123, Journal of Neural Transmission. 2016.


27. Fregni F, Boggio PS, Nitsche M, Bermpohl F, Antal A, Feredoes E, et al. Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation of prefrontal cortex enhances working memory. Experimental Brain Research. 2005;166(1).


28. Bayat Mokhtari leila, Agha Yousefi AR, Zare H, Nejati V. The Impact of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (TDCS) and Phonological Awareness Training on the Auditory Function of Working Memory in Children with Dyslexia. Journal of Exceptional Children [Internet]. 2018 [cited 2021 Oct 8];17(4):37–48.


29. Arjmandnia AA, Asbaghi M, Afrooz GA, Rahmanian M. The effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on improving working memory performance in children with mathematical disorder. journal of learning disabilities. 2016;6(1):7–25.


30. Bandeira ID, Guimarães RSQ, Jagersbacher JG, Barretto TL, de Jesus-Silva JR, Santos SN, et al. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Children and Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Journal of Child Neurology. 2016;31(7).