Effective of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation(tDCS) on Semantic attention in people with Depression

Background and Aim : The impairment in Cognitive functions are common symptoms of Depression. The purpose of this research is investigation of the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on Semantic attention in patients with Depression.Methods : Thirty university students with depressive symptoms who were referred to the Counseling Center of Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University were selected and randomly divided into two groups : experimental and sham groups (n=15 per group). The experimental group received anodal-tDCS stimulation over the left DLPFC for two weeks, 5 days a week and each session for 20 minutes. Semantic attention was assessed by semantic stroop test. The obtained data were analyzed using covariance analysis and paired t-test.Results : The Results showed that the Semantic attention was significantly faster in experimental group than sham group (p <0.05).Conclusion : according to our result, anodal tDCS stimulation Increased Semantic attention. Therefore, transcranial electrical stimulation can be used as a non-pharmacological and safe intervention to improve cognitive impairment to enhance the cognitive functions in people with depression.

Keywords:

transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) , Semantic attention , Depression