Juan C Meléndez1, Encarnación Satorres1, Alfonso Pitarque2, Iraida Delhom3, Elena Real1, Joaquin Escudero4. 1. Department of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, ES 46002 Valencia, Spain. 2. Department of Methodology, Faculty of Psychology, International University of Valencia, Av. Blasco Ibañez 21, ES 46010 Valencia, Spain. 3. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of ValenciaPintor Sorolla, 21, ES 46002 Valencia, Spain. 4. Hospital General of Valencia, Av. Tres Cruces, 2, ES 46014 Valencia, Spain.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:False memories tend to increase in healthy and pathological aging, and their reduction could be useful in improving cognitive functioning. The objective of this study was to use an active-placebo method to verify whether the application of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improved true recognition and reduced false memories in healthy older people. METHOD:Participants were 29 healthy older adults (65-78 years old) that were assigned to either an active or a placebo group; the active group received anodal stimulation at 2 mA for 20 min over F7. An experimental task was used to estimate true and false recognition. The procedure took place in two sessions on two consecutive days. RESULTS: True recognition showed a significant main effect of sessions (p < 0.01), indicating an increase from before treatment to after it. False recognition showed a significant main effect of sessions (p < 0.01), indicating a decrease from before treatment to after it and a significant session × group interaction (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, our results show that tDCS was an effective tool for increasing true recognition and reducing false recognition in healthy older people, and suggest that stimulation improved recall by increasing the number of items a participant could recall and reducing the number of memory errors.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND: False memories tend to increase in healthy and pathological aging, and their reduction could be useful in improving cognitive functioning. The objective of this study was to use an active-placebo method to verify whether the application of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improved true recognition and reduced false memories in healthy older people. METHOD:Participants were 29 healthy older adults (65-78 years old) that were assigned to either an active or a placebo group; the active group received anodal stimulation at 2 mA for 20 min over F7. An experimental task was used to estimate true and false recognition. The procedure took place in two sessions on two consecutive days. RESULTS: True recognition showed a significant main effect of sessions (p < 0.01), indicating an increase from before treatment to after it. False recognition showed a significant main effect of sessions (p < 0.01), indicating a decrease from before treatment to after it and a significant session × group interaction (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, our results show that tDCS was an effective tool for increasing true recognition and reducing false recognition in healthy older people, and suggest that stimulation improved recall by increasing the number of items a participant could recall and reducing the number of memory errors.
Entities:
Keywords:
aging; experiment; false recognition; transcranial direct current stimulation; true recognition
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