Effects of tDCS on Social Cognition in Aging

NCT04633499 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: SoCoStim
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 90
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The aim of the study is to explore the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on either the right tempo-parietal junction (rTPJ) or the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) in healthy older adults (replication in a different sample of a study by Martin et al., 2020).

Conditions

Aging; Social Cognition

Keywords

tDCS; Social Cognition

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Response Time in milliseconds in Visual-Perspective Taking Paradigm (VPT) in the active tDCS.

  The outcome in the VPT paradigm will be response time in milliseconds (for correct answers only).

  at Day 1 or 7 (depends on randomization)

• Response Time in milliseconds in Visual-Perspective Taking Paradigm (VPT) in the sham tDCS.

  The outcome in the VPT paradigm will be response time in milliseconds (for correct answers only).

  at Day 1 or 7 (depends on randomization)

• Response Time in milliseconds in the Reading the mind in the eyes test (RMET) in the active tDCS.

  Outcome in the RMET will be reaction times in milliseconds (of correct answers only) in either rTPJ or dmPFC stimulation in comparison to sham stimulation.

  at Day 1 or 7 (depends on randomization)

• Response Time in milliseconds in the Reading the mind in the eyes test (RMET) in the sham tDCS.

  Outcome in the RMET will be reaction times in milliseconds (of correct answers only) in either rTPJ or dmPFC stimulation in comparison to sham stimulation.

  at Day 1 or 7 (depends on randomization)

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Functional and structural connectivity (via MRI)

  MRI Assessment takes places before participants are stimulated with tDCS at Baseline (Day 1).

Study Arms (3)

dmPFC tDCS + Social Cognition tasks in older participants

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants will receive either active or sham stimulation over the dmPFC while conducting two different social cognition paradigms: one regarding emotion recognition, one on visual perspective taking.

Behavioral: Social Cognition Task; Device: tDCS

rTPJ tDCS + Social Cognition tasks in older participants

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will receive either active or sham stimulation over the rTPJ while conducting two different social cognition paradigms: one regarding emotion recognition, one on visual perspective taking.

Behavioral: Social Cognition Task; Device: tDCS

Social cognition tasks in younger participants

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants will conduct two different social cognition paradigms: one regarding emotion recognition, one on visual perspective taking but without tDCS stimulation.

Behavioral: Social Cognition Task

Interventions

Social Cognition Task BEHAVIORAL

Two paradigms will be tested: visual perspective taking and reading the mind in the eyes.

Social cognition tasks in younger participants; dmPFC tDCS + Social Cognition tasks in older participants; rTPJ tDCS + Social Cognition tasks in older participants

tDCS DEVICE

tDCS either over the dmPFC or the rTPJ.

dmPFC tDCS + Social Cognition tasks in older participants; rTPJ tDCS + Social Cognition tasks in older participants

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 80 Years
• Gender Eligibility Details: Participants were asked to name the gender with which they identify.
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• healthy older (60 - 80 years) and younger (18 - 30 years) participants
• German as their main language or sufficient german skills to understand the experiment and the task

You may not qualify if:

• participants with neuropsychological or psychiatric disease that affect cognition.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University Medicine Greifswald: lead

Study Sites (1)

University Medicine Greifswald

Greifswald, 17489, Germany

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Martin AK, Kessler K, Cooke S, Huang J, Meinzer M. The Right Temporoparietal Junction Is Causally Associated with Embodied Perspective-taking. J Neurosci. 2020 Apr 8;40(15):3089-3095. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2637-19.2020. Epub 2020 Mar 4.

  PMID: 32132264 BACKGROUND

• Roheger M, Mader A, Riemann S, Niemann F, Kessler K, Martin AK, Meinzer M. Intact embodiment during perspective-taking in older adults is not affected by focal tDCS. Geroscience. 2025 Dec;47(6):6823-6837. doi: 10.1007/s11357-025-01554-4. Epub 2025 Feb 19.

  PMID: 39966250 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Electric Stimulation Therapy; Therapeutics; Convulsive Therapy; Psychiatric Somatic Therapies; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities; Electroshock; Psychological Techniques

Study Officials

• Marcus Meinzer, Dr.

  Universitymedicine Greifswald

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: TRIPLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: Participants will receive either an active or a sham tDCS stimulation. Sham stimulation will use a ramp-up, so that participants are not able to tell whether they are stimulated or not, if they are tDCS naive. Sham or active tDCS is applied via codes. Principal Investigators are blinded for these codes.
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: It is a randomized, balanced cross-over design with within- as well as between group comparisons. Two groups will be investigate: young participants (n = 30) and older participants (n = 60). The group of young participants will serve as a control group and will only get a neuropsychological assessment of their cognitive abilities at the beginning of the study, an MRI assessment and one session of the investigated paradigms (without tDCS). The group of older participants will conduct a session of MRI assessment and neuropsychological assessment, as well as two tDCS sessions (anodal/sham). The stimulation will either be over the rTPJ or the dmPFC. This set-up is identical to the study of Martin et al., (2020).

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 27, 2020
• First Posted: November 18, 2020
• Study Start: August 1, 2020
• Primary Completion: May 31, 2022
• Study Completion: May 31, 2022
• Last Updated: June 2, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-06

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

DE (1)