Titre
Impact of transcranial direct current stimulation on attentional bias for threat: a proof-of-concept study among individuals with social anxiety disorder
Type
article
Institution
Externe
Périodique
Auteur(s)
Heeren, Alexandre
Auteure/Auteur
Billieux, Joël
Auteure/Auteur
Philippot, Pierre
Auteure/Auteur
De Raedt, Rudi
Auteure/Auteur
Baeken, Chris
Auteure/Auteur
de Timary, Philippe
Auteure/Auteur
Maurage, Pierre
Auteure/Auteur
Vanderhasselt, Marie-Anne
Auteure/Auteur
Liens vers les personnes
ISSN
1749-5016
Statut éditorial
Publié
Date de publication
2017
Volume
12
Numéro
2
Première page
251
Dernière page/numéro d’article
260
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Langue
anglais
Résumé
Cognitive models posit that social anxiety disorder (SAD) is associated with and maintained by attentional bias (AB) for
social threat. However, over the last years, it has been suggested that AB in SAD may result from a decreased activation of
the left prefrontal cortex, and particularly of its dorsolateral part (dlPFC). Accordingly, a transient increase of neural activity
within the left dlPFC via non-invasive brain stimulation decreases AB in non-anxious control participants. Yet, none of
these studies focused on SAD. This is especially unfortunate as SAD constitutes the main target for which a genuine reduction
of AB may be most appropriate. In this experiment, we sought to investigate the causal influence of left dlPFC neuromodulation
on AB among 19 female individuals with a DSM-5 diagnosis of SAD. We adopted a double-blind within-subject
protocol in which we delivered a single-session of anodal versus sham transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) over
the left dlPFC during the completion of a probe discrimination task assessing AB. Consistent with our hypothesis, participants
demonstrated a significant decrease in AB during the anodal tDCS over the left DLPFC relative to the sham stimulation.
These findings value tDCS as an innovative procedure to gain new insight into the underlying mechanisms of SAD.
social threat. However, over the last years, it has been suggested that AB in SAD may result from a decreased activation of
the left prefrontal cortex, and particularly of its dorsolateral part (dlPFC). Accordingly, a transient increase of neural activity
within the left dlPFC via non-invasive brain stimulation decreases AB in non-anxious control participants. Yet, none of
these studies focused on SAD. This is especially unfortunate as SAD constitutes the main target for which a genuine reduction
of AB may be most appropriate. In this experiment, we sought to investigate the causal influence of left dlPFC neuromodulation
on AB among 19 female individuals with a DSM-5 diagnosis of SAD. We adopted a double-blind within-subject
protocol in which we delivered a single-session of anodal versus sham transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) over
the left dlPFC during the completion of a probe discrimination task assessing AB. Consistent with our hypothesis, participants
demonstrated a significant decrease in AB during the anodal tDCS over the left DLPFC relative to the sham stimulation.
These findings value tDCS as an innovative procedure to gain new insight into the underlying mechanisms of SAD.
PID Serval
serval:BIB_23077B773698
PMID
URL éditeur
Date de création
2020-01-10T08:30:48.398Z
Date de création dans IRIS
2025-05-20T19:44:51Z
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Nom
Heeren_SCAN_2017.pdf
Version du manuscrit
published
Licence
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Taille
275.11 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
PID Serval
serval:BIB_23077B773698.P001
Somme de contrôle
(MD5):663f86cfe98f12dc55288e965e7c8a01