Negative affective traits moderate transcranial direct current stimulation effects on memory

The cognitive effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) show considerable inter-individual variability, prompting the need to identify moderators of responsiveness. This study examined whether negative affectivity (such as depressiveness, anxiety, and stress level), conceptualized as both transient states and stable traits, moderates the effects of tDCS on working memory (WM) and associative memory (AM). We pooled data from six sham-controlled experiments involving 144 healthy young adults (351 tDCS sessions) using within-subject crossover designs. Participants completed WM and AM tasks following active anodal tDCS or sham, as well as Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) before each session. We found that trait-level negative affectivity, but not state-level emotional fluctuations, moderated WM. Individuals with higher levels of depression, anxiety, or stress demonstrated greater tDCS-induced WM gains. In contrast, AM benefits were consistent and unaffected by affective traits or states. These findings indicate that psychological traits can shape the variability of tDCS effects. In particular, negative affectivity influences susceptibility to tDCS effects on cognitively demanding tasks that rely heavily on executive control. This effect may stem from negative affectivity’s association with downscaled baseline cortical excitability in prefrontal networks, crucial for WM performance, thereby opening the possibility of greater tDCS-induced improvement. These findings provide further support to our growing understanding of the complex interplay between emotional and cognitive processes in shaping individual responses to tDCS and point out that negative affectivity should be taken into consideration when evaluating individual variability of the tDCS (and other non-invasive brain stimulation techniques) effects on memory and cognition.