Prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation improves fundamental vehicle control abilities

摘要: Noninvasive brain stimulation techniques have increasingly attracted the attention of neuroscientists because they enable identification causal role a targeted region. However, few studies applied such to everyday life situations. Here, we investigate dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in fundamental vehicle control abilities. Thirteen participants underwent simulated driving task under transcranial direct current (tDCS) on three separate testing days. Each day was randomly assigned either anodal over right with cathodal left DLPFC, or sham stimulation. The required maintain an inter-vehicle distance leading car traveling winding road constant speed. Driving performance quantified using two metrics: root-mean-square error as car-following performance, and standard deviation lateral position lane-keeping performance. Results showed that both performances were significantly greater for anodal/left compared cathodal/left These results suggest not only involvement DLPFC driving, but also hemisphere dominance control. findings this study indicate tDCS can be useful tool examine specific region ecologically valid environments, might help drivers difficulties