Brain Stimul
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Empathic responses to facial cues are a main social competency. Both appraisal processes (facial emotion detection) and self-perceived empathy (empathic responsiveness) in response to emotional faces are thought to be related to empathic behavior, although no systematic analysis has been performed to assess their relationship. ⋯ The ability to monitor emotional cues and the behavioral empathic responsiveness to emotional situations was shown to be partially compromised in the case of frontal activity disruption, highlighting the main role of the sensorimotor system for empathic social skills.
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Neuromodulatory techniques, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), have been increasingly studied as possible treatments for many neurological and psychiatric disorders. tDCS is capable of inducing changes in regional cerebral blood flow in both cortical and subcortical structures, as shown by positron emission tomography studies, and might conceivably affect hypothalamic and autonomic nervous system functions. However, it remains unknown whether acute changes in autonomic or hypothalamic functions may be triggered by conventional tDCS protocols. ⋯ The changes in hand temperature and cortisol levels, having occurred in both the sham and experimental groups, probably reflect a non-specific stress response to a new procedure. There were no significant changes in autonomic functions, ventilation rate or core body temperature that can be attributed to conventional tDCS applied to healthy volunteers.
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Previous studies have claimed that weak transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) induces persisting activity changes in the human motor cortex and working memory, but to date no studies have evaluated the effects of tDCS on declarative memory. ⋯ The results indicated that active stimulation of the left DLPFC leads to an enhancement or impairment of verbal memorization depending on the polarity of the stimulation. Furthermore, this effect was specific to the site of stimulation.