Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive procedure in which electrodes are placed on someone’s head to stimulate various regions via electric currents. While most uses for the procedure are clinical, a researcher is trying to develop a tDCS kit for personal use among healthy individuals. The kit is designed to improve general moods by stimulating the pleasure centres of the brain. While prior studies have not seen much efficacy in improving mood via tDCS, those studies relied on relatively low frequency currents and targeted different regions of the brain compared to this study. The proposed experiment is a randomized sham-controlled trial to test the effect of the device on subjects’ self-reported mood. Participants in one arm will receive the actual tDCS procedure, while subjects in another arm will be given a sham procedure (the same device pressed on their heads, but it is not actually turned on).

Developed for use at the February 2016 CENTRES workshop on the Human Biomedical Research Act. © 2016 National University of Singapore.

Questions for Discussion

1. Is this study within the scope of the Human Biomedical Research Act?