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Neuroscience› Neurology› Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Studies

Cognitive ageing — Anodal tDCS over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Submitted 2026-10-22

Field: Neuroscience › NeurologyType: No effect foundArea: cognitive ageingTarget: Anodal tDCS over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortexStage: pilot

Hypothesis

A single session of anodal tDCS over the left dlPFC would improve working-memory performance in older adults.

What failed

In a single-blind crossover with 30 older adults comparing 1 mA, 2 mA and sham stimulation, N-back accuracy and response times did not change during or after stimulation at either current strength.

Broken assumption

One session of prefrontal anodal tDCS is enough to boost working memory in older adults.

Why

The abstract gives no mechanism; it notes that optimal stimulation parameters for cognition are poorly understood and concludes one session is unlikely to help working memory in old age.

From the published paper: Nilsson et al. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 2015. ↗CC BY

Research ideas from this failure

Unvetted lead — read the papers

New hypotheses this failure suggests, each with a crucial experiment, a rival explanation of the original result, and the papers it rests on. Written by AI from paper titles and abstracts found on OpenAlex (and Europe PMC, for life and health sciences).

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Links in published research

Where this experiment's genes are known to matter outside its own research area, and the papers behind those links. Sources: Open Targets Platform and Europe PMC.