Enhancing Emotion Regulation: A Review of tDCS Effects

Abstract

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has demonstrated increasing promise as a method of modifying brain activity and cognitive function. The objective of this comprehensive review of the literature is to evaluate the impact of tDCS on explicit and implicit emotion regulation strategies. An extensive review of the literature, conducted using keywords "tDCS," "emotion regulation," "implicit emotion regulation," and "explicit emotion regulation" in Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases, identified studies meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Twenty studies overall, encompassing both implicit-automatic and explicit-controlled emotion regulation strategies, were found after an extensive review of the literature. There has been a lot of research conducted on explicit emotion regulation, however not as much on implicit emotion regulation. The review revealed that tDCS administration has demonstrated promising effects on enhancing emotion regulation performance across various tasks and neural targets. Nevertheless, inconsistencies in the literature highlight the necessity for further research to elucidate the precise mechanisms underlying tDCS-induced changes in emotion regulation, as well as to explore individual differences in treatment response. In conclusion, this review highlights the potential of tDCS as a valuable intervention for enhancing emotion regulation processes, with implications for both clinical practice and basic research in affective neuroscience.