Document Type : Original Article
Researchers
1 Master Student. Department of Educational Psychology. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. Allameh Tabataba'i University. Tehran. Iran
2 Full Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran
3 Assistant Professor. Department of Psychology. Faculty of Humanities. Shahed University. Tehran. Iran
Ministerial Ethics Committee
Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder in adults, characterized by impairments in attention, response inhibition, and working memory. Executive dysfunction is considered a core feature of adult ADHD. Given the limitations and side effects of pharmacological treatments, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has emerged as a promising, non-invasive, and low-cost alternative intervention.
This study aims to investigate the effects of anodal stimulation over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and cathodal stimulation over the left DLPFC on attention and executive functions in adults with ADHD.
Using a randomized controlled pretest-posttest experimental design, 26 eligible participants will be purposefully selected and randomly assigned to either the experimental or sham group. Standardized neuropsychological instruments—including IVA-2, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), and Digit Span tasks—will be used. The intervention consists of three consecutive sessions of tDCS, and data will be analyzed using one-way ANOVA.
By employing objective neurocognitive assessments, this research seeks to provide empirical evidence on the efficacy of tDCS in enhancing cognitive performance in adults with ADHD, thereby informing future clinical trials and contributing to the development of non-pharmacological treatment approaches.