PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
Detrimental decision-making is a major problem among violent offenders. Non-invasive brain stimulation offers a promising method to directly influence decision-making and has already been shown to modulate risk-taking in non-violent controls. We hypothesize that anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex beneficially modulates the neural and behavioral correlates of risk-taking in a sample of violent offenders. We expect offenders to show more risky decision-making than non-violent controls and that prefrontal tDCS will induce stronger changes in the offender group. In the current study, 22 male violent offenders and 24 male non-violent controls took part in a randomized double-blind sham-controlled cross-over study applying tDCS over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Subsequently, participants performed the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Violent offenders showed significantly less optimal decision-making compared to non-violent controls. Active tDCS increased prefrontal activity and improved decision-making only in violent offenders but not in the control group. Also, in offenders only, prefrontal tDCS influenced functional connectivity between the stimulated area and other brain regions such as the thalamus. These results suggest baseline dependent effects of tDCS and pave the way for treatment options of disadvantageous decision-making behavior in this population.
摘要：
有害的决策是暴力罪犯中的一个主要问题。非侵入性脑刺激提供了一种直接影响决策的有前途的方法，并且已经被证明可以调节非暴力控制中的冒险行为。我们假设右背外侧前额叶皮层的阳极经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）有益地调节了暴力罪犯样本中冒险行为的神经和行为相关性。我们希望罪犯比非暴力控制表现出更多的危险决策，并且前额叶tDCS将在罪犯群体中引起更大的变化。在目前的研究中,22名男性暴力罪犯和24名男性非暴力对照者参加了一项随机双盲假对照交叉研究，在右背外侧前额叶皮层上应用tDCS。随后，参与者在功能磁共振成像(fMRI)期间执行了球囊模拟风险任务(BART).与非暴力控制相比，暴力犯罪者的最佳决策明显不足。活跃的tDCS仅在暴力罪犯中增加了前额叶活动并改善了决策，而在对照组中则没有。此外，仅在罪犯中，前额叶tDCS影响受刺激区域和其他大脑区域如丘脑之间的功能连接。这些结果表明tDCS的基线依赖性影响，并为该人群中不利决策行为的治疗选择铺平了道路。
