Inhibitory control refers to a central cognitive capacity involved in the interruption and correction of actions. Dysfunctions in these cognitive control processes have been identified as major maintaining mechanisms in a range of mental disorders such as ADHD, binge eating disorder, obesity, and addiction. Improving inhibitory control by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) could ameliorate symptoms in a broad range of mental disorders. The primary aim of this pre-registered meta-analysis was to investigate whether inhibitory control can be improved by tDCS in healthy and clinical samples. Additionally, several moderator variables were investigated. A comprehensive literature search was performed on PubMed/MEDLINE database, Web of Science, and Scopus. To achieve a homogenous sample, only studies that assessed inhibitory control in the go-/no-go (GNG) or stop-signal task (SST) were included, yielding a total of 75 effect sizes from 45 studies. Results of the meta-analysis indicate a small but significant overall effect of tDCS on inhibitory control (g = 0.21) which was moderated by target and return electrode placement as well as by the task. The small effect size was further reduced after correction for publication bias. Based on the studies included, our meta-analytic approach substantiates previously observed differences between brain regions, i.e., involvement of the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) vs. the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC) in inhibitory control. Results indicate a small moderating effect of tDCS on inhibitory control in single-session studies and highlight the relevance of technical and behavioral parameters.

Cognitive control (CC) of attention is a major prerequisite for effective information processing. Emotional distractors can bias and impair goal-directed deployment of attentional resources. Frustration-induced negative affect and cognition can act as internal distractors with negative impact on task performance. Consolidation of CC may thus support task-oriented behavior under challenging conditions. Recently, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been put forward as an effective tool to modulate CC. Particularly, anodal, activity enhancing tDCS to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) can increase insufficient CC in depression as indicated by a reduction of attentional biases induced by emotionally salient stimuli. With this study, we provide first evidence that, compared to sham stimulation, tDCS to the left dlPFC enhances processing speed measured by an adaptive version of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT) that is typically thwarted by frustration. Notably, despite an even larger amount of error-related negative feedback, the task-induced upset was suppressed in the group receiving anodal tDCS. Moreover, inhibition of task-related negative affect was correlated with performance gains, suggesting a close link between enhanced processing speed and consolidation of CC by tDCS. Together, these data provide first evidence that activity enhancing anodal tDCS to the left dlPFC can support focused cognitive processing particularly when challenged by frustration-induced negative affect.

Palatable food induces general approach tendencies when compared to nonfood stimuli. For eating disorders, the modification of an attention bias toward food was proposed as a treatment option. Similar approaches have been efficient for other psychiatric conditions and, recently, successfully incorporated approach motivation. The direct impact of attentional biases on spontaneous natural behavior has hardly been investigated so far, although actions may serve as an intervention target, especially seeing the recent advances in the field of embodied cognition. In this study, we addressed the interplay of motor action execution and cognition when interacting with food objects. In a Virtual Reality (VR) setting, healthy participants repeatedly grasped or warded high-calorie food or hand-affordant ball objects using their own dominant hand. This novel experimental paradigm revealed an attention-like bias in hand-based actions: 3D objects of food were collected faster than ball objects, and this difference correlated positively with both individual body mass index and diet-related attitudes. The behavioral bias for food in hand movements complements several recent experimental and neurophysiological findings. Implications for the use of VR in the treatment of eating-related health problems are discussed.

The design and analysis of hemodynamic brain-imaging studies encompasses many degrees of freedom in terms of parameter choices for data acquisition, preprocessing, and analysis.^1,2 Replicability and reproducibility issues due to undisclosed analytical flexibility have been intensively discussed and demonstrated for several brain imaging techniques, including hemodynamic functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)^{3 – 5} and electroencephalography.^6,7 Similarly, the impact of different design and analytical choices in functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) research has recently been a focus.^8,9 When undisclosed, these bear the risk of questionable research practices (QRPs) and may imperil the reproducibility and replicability of published results.¹⁰ Addressing these widely pervasive concerns requires adopting transparent study designs, reporting, and other highly encouraged open-research practices that researchers across fields have developed. These include sharing materials, data, and code, releasing openly accessible preprints, and publishing a preregistration protocol.^{11 – 14,15} In particular, study preregistration has been recently highlighted as an important best practice tool for functional neuroimaging,^{3 – 6,16,17} including fNIRS research.^{18 – 20} However, drafting a preregistration protocol can feel especially daunting for beginners as it requires formulating a detailed a priori study and analysis plan,^14,21 especially in a field with frequent methodological and technical advances that make any attempt to standardize procedures challenging.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 39(6) of Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition (see record 2013-39107-001). In the article, incorrect values appeared for the number of trials in the experiment (section: Procedure) and for the intercepts of four regression lines (section: Regression Coefficient Analysis). The correct number of trials in the experiment is 16 trials in a training block followed by 10 blocks of 128 trials each. The intercepts for response repetitions amounted to 0.72 ms for the SNARC effect following incongruent trials, and to 51.55ms following congruent trials. For response alternations, the intercepts amounted to 35.39 ms for the SNARC effect following incongruent trials and to 50.88 ms following congruent trials. The conclusions presented in the article are not affected by these mistakes.] Numbers and space are tightly linked-a phenomenon that is referred to as the spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect (Dehaene, Bossini, & Giraux, 1993). The present study investigates how quickly and flexibly the behavioral impact of such spatial-numerical associations can be controlled. Participants performed a parity judgment task, and we examined how the SNARC effect is influenced by the preceding congruency between the required response and the target number's spatial association. Results indicate that the SNARC effect is reduced instantly after having experienced a number's spatial association to interfere with responding. This sequential modulation indicates a pronounced flexibility of spatial-numerical associations driven by cognitive control mechanisms.