Effects of prefrontal HD-tDCS on impulsivity and aggression: a combined HDtDCS-fMRI study

Not Applicable

Recruiting

Conditions: Criminal violent offenders

Registration Number: DRKS00028607

Lead Sponsor: niversitätsklinikum der RWTH Aachen

Brief Summary: Not available

Detailed Description: Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: Recruiting

Sex: Male

Target Recruitment: 100

Inclusion Criteria

Sufficient German language skills
Age: between 18 and 45 years
Offender: Conviction for at least one violent crime
Controls: No convictions for violent crimes.

Exclusion Criteria

MRI Contraindications
Acute or chronic neurological disorders
Acute use of antipsychotics
Controls: Current or chronic psychiatric disorders.

Study & Design

Study Type: interventional

Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
The first aim of the current study is to use anodal prefrontal HD-tDCS to reduce impulsive and aggressive behaviour in male violent offenders. The Stop Signal Task (SST) will be used to measure response inhibition. During the SST, we expect that offenders show poorer response inhibition compared to controls. Further, criminal offenders are assumed to benefit more from HD-tDCS, indicated by a greater increase in response inhibition compared to healthy controls. The Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP) will be used to measure aggression induced by social provocation. In the TAP we expect that offenders show higher levels of aggression compared to the control group. Furthermore, active stimulation is expected to cause a greater reduction of aggression levels in offenders compared to controls.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
The second aim of this study is to measure the neural correlates of impulsivity and aggression using fMRI and compare functional differences between offender and controls. In addition, we are investigating how HD-tDCS affects these neural correlates. Specifically, we aim to investigate whether anodal HD-tDCS can increase right IFG activity and strengthen regulatory networks under provocation in violent offenders.