Effects Of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Combined With Cognitive Training On Working Memory In College Students

Objective: To explore the effects of different time points of cognitive training combined with transcranial direct current stimulation on working memory in healthy young people.Methods: 105 healthy college students were randomly divided into three groups: post-training stimulation group(n=35),simultaneous training group(n=35)and post-stimulation training group(n=35),in which training and stimulation only intervened once.Three groups were assessed working memory at baseline and immediate after intervention using the digit span task(forward and backward),letter-number span test,brief visuospatial memory test-revised,the third edition of wechsler memory scale-spatial span test(anterograde and retrograde),and digital n-back task.Results: In addition to the scores of the third edition of wechsler memory scale-spatial span test(retrograde)in post-training stimulation group and simultaneous training group,the post-intervention scores of the digit span task(forward and backward),letter-number span test,brief visuospatial memory test-revised,the third edition of wechsler memory scale-spatial span test(anterograde),and the correct rate of digital n-back task were significantly higher than those of baseline,and the response time of digital n-back task was significantly lower than that of baseline among the three groups(P < 0.05).But there was no significant difference in the increase/decrease rate of all task scores(only the decrease rate calculated by digital n-back task response time)among the three groups(P > 0.05).Conclusion: Single cognitive training and transcranial direct current stimulation at three different points can significantly improve working memory of healthy young people,but there is no significant difference among the three effects.