The Effect of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on the Cognitive Flexibility and Memory Span in Patients suffering from Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Abstract

Epilepsy is a neurological and chronic disorder that affects the central nervous system. This disorder has negative effects on cognitive abilities. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation on cognitive flexibility and memory span in patients suffering from epilepsy in the temporal lobe. The present study had a semi-experimental design including a pre and post-test, and performed in two experimental and control groups. The sample consists of 30 patients with epilepsy who referred for treatment to private health centers in Urmia. Cognitive abilities were measured via Cognitive Flexibility questionnaire and Wechsler Numerical Memory Scale. After the pretest, 15 subjects were randomly assigned to the experimental group and 15 subjects were placed in the control group. Patients in the experimental group were given transcranial direct current stimulation for 10 sessions in which a current with 1.5 mA and for 20 minutes. Anode electrode was placed in the F3 region and cathode electrode in F4. Then posttest was conducted for both groups and data were analyzed by multivariate covariance analysis. Results showed that there were significant differences between groups in terms of cognitive flexibility and memory span. This means that transcranial direct current stimulation can improve cognitive flexibility and memory span in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. The results demonstrated that transcranial direct current stimulation could be used as an effective intervention to improve cognitive flexibility and working memory for patients with epilepsy so physicians and psychologists who are active in this field can use this method, along with other interventions to solve cognitive problems of these patients.