Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar 18:12:630239.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.630239. eCollection 2021.

Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation-Induced Effects Over the Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex: Differences in the Task Types of Task Switching

Ziyu Wang  1 , Rongjuan Zhu  1 , Xuqun You  1
Affiliations

Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation-Induced Effects Over the Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex: Differences in the Task Types of Task Switching

Ziyu Wang et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been previously used to investigate the causal relationships between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and task switching but has delivered inconclusive results that may be due to different switching tasks involving different cognitive control processes. In the current study, we manipulated task types and task predictability to investigate the role of DLPFC in task-switching performances. Notably, we distinguished the specific effects of anodal-tDCS on two types of tasks (parity/magnitude and parity/vowel-consonant tasks). Forty-eight participants were randomly assigned to four task groups as follows; Group I who was assigned right anode (RA) parity/magnitude tasks, Group II who were assigned sham parity/magnitude tasks, Group III who were assigned RA parity/vowel-consonant tasks, and Group IV who were assigned sham parity/vowel-consonant tasks. Participants were asked to complete both predictable and unpredictable tasks. In the parity/magnitude task, we demonstrated a lower switch cost for the RA group compared to the sham group for unpredictable tasks. In contrast, in the parity/vowel-consonant task, the switch cost was higher for the RA group compared to the sham group for unpredictable and predictable tasks. These findings confirmed an anodal-tDCS-induced effect over the right DLPFC both in the parity/magnitude and parity/vowel-consonant tasks. Our data indicated that anodal tDCS may have a stronger influence on task-switching performance over the right DLPFC by changing the irrelevant task-set inhibition process. Also, the right DLPFC is unlikely to act by performing exogenous adjustment of predictable task switching.

Keywords: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC); tDCS-induced effect; task switching; task-specific effect; transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Experimental timeline of task-switching paradigm. (A) The predictable parity/magnitude task. (B) The unpredictable parity/magnitude task. (C) The predictable parity/vowel-consonant task. (D) The unpredictable parity/vowel-consonant task.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Single trials accuracy and reaction time of sham and right anode (RA) tDCS groups in pre-tDCS and post-tDCS. (A) Single trials accuracy. (B) Single trials reaction time. PMSham, single trials of parity/magnitude task in sham tDCS group; PMRA, single trials of parity/magnitude task in RA tDCS group; PVSham, single trials of parity/vowel-consonant task in sham tDCS group; PVRA, single trials of parity/vowel-consonant task in RA tDCS group. **p < 0.01.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mixing trials accuracy of sham and right anode (RA) tDCS groups in different task types and task predictability. PMunperdic, the unpredictable parity/magnitude task; PMperdic, the predictable parity/magnitude task; PVunperdic, the unpredictable parity/vowel-consonant task; PVperdic, the predictable parity/vowel-consonant task. *p < 0.05.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effects of tDCS in accuracy and reaction time between switch and repeat trials in different task types and task predictability. (A) Effects of tDCS in accuracy between switch and repeat trials. (B) Effects of tDCS in reaction time between switch and repeat trials. UnperdicRe, repeat trials in unpredictable tasks; UnperdicSw, switch trials in unpredictable tasks; PerdicRe, repeat trials in predictable tasks; PerdicSw, switch trials in predictable tasks; PMSham, parity/magnitude task in sham tDCS group; PMRA, parity/magnitude task in RA tDCS group; PVSham, parity/vowel-consonant task in sham tDCS group; PVRA, parity/vowel-consonant task in RA tDCS group. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Switch cost of sham and right anode (RA) tDCS groups in the parity/magnitude and parity/vowel-consonant task in different task context. (A) Switch cost in the parity/magnitude task. (B) Switch cost in the parity/vowel-consonant task. UnperdicM, unpredictable magnitude task; UnperdicP, unpredictable parity task; UnperdicV, unpredictable vowel-consonant task; PerdicM, predictable magnitude task; PerdicP, predictable parity task; PerdicV, predictable vowel-consonant task. *p < 0.05.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effects of tDCS in accuracy and reaction time between single and repeat trials in different task types and task predictability. (A) Effects of tDCS in accuracy between switch and repeat trials. (B) Effects of tDCS in reaction time between switch and repeat trials. UnperdicRe, repeat trials in unpredictable tasks; UnperdicSin, single trials in unpredictable tasks; PerdicRe, repeat trials in predictable tasks; PerdicSin, single trials in predictable tasks; PMSham, parity/magnitude task in sham tDCS group; PMRA, parity/magnitude task in RA tDCS group; PVSham, parity/vowel-consonant task in sham tDCS group; PVRA, parity/vowel-consonant task in RA tDCS group. ***p < 0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Andreadis N., Quinlan P. T. (2010). Task switching under predictable and unpredictable circumstances. Atten. Percept. Psychophys. 72, 1776–1790. 10.3758/APP.72.7.1776 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Aron A. R., Monsell S., Sahakian B. J., Robbins T. W. (2004). A componential analysis of task-switching deficits associated with lesions of left and right frontal cortex. Brain 127, 1561–1573. 10.1093/brain/awh169 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Attila K., Gábor L., ákos L. (2018). Interference between number magnitude and parity. Exp. Psychol. 65, 71–83. 10.1027/1618-3169/a000394 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ballesio A., Cerolini S., Vacca M., Lucidi F., Lombardo C. (2018). Insomnia symptoms moderate the relationship between perseverative cognition and backward inhibition in the task-switching paradigm. Front. Psychol. 11:1837. 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01837 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Costa R. E., Friedrich F. J. (2012). Inhibition, interference, and conflict in task switching. Psychon. Bull. Rev. 19:1193. 10.3758/s13423-012-0311-1 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources