Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Influences on Cognitive Inhibition in Schizophrenia

A deficit in cognitive suppression is a trait of patients with schizophrenia. Cognitive suppression is the ability to control or suppress irrelevant responses and to adopt relevant responses instead. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on information suppression in schizophrenic patients. This is a noninvasive technique of brain stimulation that induces prolonged functional changes in the cerebral cortex through the application of a weak direct current to the scalp (Nitsche \& Paulus, 2001). The aim of this study is to test whether bilateral tDCS over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) differentially modify performance on several cognitive tasks.