Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex decreases the perception of experimentally-induced pain: contribution of working memory?

Noninvasive cortical stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a cortical structure involved in the cognitive adaptation to pain, by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation or transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) allowed the modulation of experimentally induced pain and working memory (WM). Because either WM or experimentally induced pain has been examined in previous studies and a functional relationship has been assumed, we investigated the effects of tDCS on both thermal pain and WM. Twenty-four healthy volunteers underwent stimulation of either the left or the right DLPFC. War…