Estudo comportamental e eletrofisiológico da neuromodulação da atenção

• Autor(a) principal: Rêgo, Gabriel Gaudencio do
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações do Mackenzie
• Texto Completo: http://dspace.mackenzie.br/handle/10899/24570
• topic: neurofeedback; ETCC; eletroencefalografia; neuroaprimoramento; atenção; CNPQ::OUTROS

Neuroenhancement is a procedure that aims to alter brain activity of healthy subjects in order to improve their behavioral or cognitive functioning through neuromodulatory techniques. One common cognitive function focused to modify is attention, which can be modulated by means of neurofeedback or transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS). Several studies have found improvement in attentional processes resulting from the application of these two techniques, nevertheless the results in the literature are still controversial. In view of the growing debate on neuroenhancement of attention as well as the lack of studies investigating behavioral and electrophysiological changes derived from the continuous use of such techniques, we conducted this research aiming to investigate the effect of daily application of neurofeedback and tDCS during two weeks on behavioral and electrophysiological performance of healthy participants in an attentional task. 76 college students were randomly assigned to four groups: active and placebo neurofeedback, focusing on SMR modulation; and active and placebo tDCS with anodal current applied over right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. They underwent two weeks of neuromodulation, with behavioral and electrophysiological evaluation before and after treatment through the Attention Network Task (ANT). At the end of treatment, they responded to a self-report likert-scale of perceived changes of attention. Participants of the four groups believed that their attention improved due to the treatment. However, no behavioral or electrophysiological changes were observed between the two ANT sessions due to the treatment applied. It is likely that the attentional improvement perceived by participants has been due to a placebo effect. However, there is still a possibility that this improvement has occurred within a scope not evaluated by the ANT. From these data, we discuss the clinical and social implications of neuroenhancement and the placebo effect.