PMID- 30209517
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20190614
LR  - 20190614
IS  - 1432-1106 (Electronic)
IS  - 0014-4819 (Linking)
VI  - 236
IP  - 12
DP  - 2018 Dec
TI  - The neural correlates of flow experience explored with transcranial direct 
      current stimulation.
PG  - 3223-3237
LID - 10.1007/s00221-018-5378-0 [doi]
AB  - The experience of flow ensues when humans engage in a demanding task while task 
      demands are balanced with the individual's level of skill or ability. Here, we 
      further tested the hypothesis that the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) plays a 
      causal role in mediating flow experience using transcranial direct current 
      stimulation (tDCS) to interfere with MPFC's deactivation evoked by a flow 
      paradigm and measured by magnetic resonance (MR)-based perfusion imaging. In a 
      balanced, within-subjects repeated measure design, three treatments of tDCS 
      (sham, anodal, cathodal) were applied in a sample of 22 healthy male 
      participants. tDCS-modulatory effects on flow-specific regional cerebral blood 
      flow (rCBF) and subjective flow experience significantly depended on 
      participants' baseline level of flow experience during sham tDCS. Those 
      participants with lower-flow experience during sham tDCS (LF) benefitted from 
      tDCS, particularly from the anodal polarity, whereas both active treatments did 
      not substantially affect subjects with relatively higher baseline flow experience 
      (HF). Functionally, in LF subjects, relative deactivation of the right amygdala 
      got more pronounced under anodal and cathodal tDCS, and changed inconsistently in 
      HF subjects. Inter-individual regression analyses of rCBF data suggested that 
      involvement of the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex appears crucial for 
      affecting the response pattern in the right amygdala and can be modulated by 
      tDCS. Present data support the notion that valuable insights into the neural 
      mechanism of flow can be obtained using tDCS. However, a clearer understanding of 
      tDCS' baseline dependency in terms of individual variations in brain connectivity 
      states appears a necessary prerequisite to exploit this technique further.
FAU - Ulrich, Martin
AU  - Ulrich M
AD  - Section Neuropsychology and Functional Imaging, Department of Psychiatry, 
      University of Ulm, Leimgrubenweg 12-14, 89075, Ulm, Germany.
FAU - Niemann, Johannes
AU  - Niemann J
AD  - Section Neuropsychology and Functional Imaging, Department of Psychiatry, 
      University of Ulm, Leimgrubenweg 12-14, 89075, Ulm, Germany.
FAU - Boland, Markus
AU  - Boland M
AD  - German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Sigmund-Freud-Strasse 27, 
      53127, Bonn, Germany.
FAU - Kammer, Thomas
AU  - Kammer T
AD  - Section Neuropsychology and Functional Imaging, Department of Psychiatry, 
      University of Ulm, Leimgrubenweg 12-14, 89075, Ulm, Germany.
FAU - Niemann, Filip
AU  - Niemann F
AD  - Section Neuropsychology and Functional Imaging, Department of Psychiatry, 
      University of Ulm, Leimgrubenweg 12-14, 89075, Ulm, Germany.
FAU - Gron, Georg
AU  - Gron G
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-0282-3575
AD  - Section Neuropsychology and Functional Imaging, Department of Psychiatry, 
      University of Ulm, Leimgrubenweg 12-14, 89075, Ulm, Germany. 
      georg.groen@uni-ulm.de.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20180912
PL  - Germany
TA  - Exp Brain Res
JT  - Experimental brain research
JID - 0043312
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Amygdala/blood supply/physiology
MH  - *Brain Mapping
MH  - Cerebrovascular Circulation/*physiology
MH  - Electrodes
MH  - Humans
MH  - Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
MH  - Magnetic Resonance Angiography
MH  - Male
MH  - Prefrontal Cortex/diagnostic imaging/*physiology
MH  - Regression Analysis
MH  - Surveys and Questionnaires
MH  - *Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
MH  - Young Adult
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Amygdala
OT  - Flow experience
OT  - MPFC
OT  - Perfusion imaging
OT  - sgACC
OT  - tDCS
EDAT- 2018/09/14 06:00
MHDA- 2019/06/15 06:00
CRDT- 2018/09/14 06:00
PHST- 2018/06/08 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2018/09/08 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2018/09/14 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2019/06/15 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2018/09/14 06:00 [entrez]
AID - 10.1007/s00221-018-5378-0 [pii]
AID - 10.1007/s00221-018-5378-0 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Exp Brain Res. 2018 Dec;236(12):3223-3237. doi: 10.1007/s00221-018-5378-0. Epub 
      2018 Sep 12.