The Effectiveness of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Adolescents’ Moral Decision Making and Moral Behavior

The study of interventions for improving decision making and ethical behavior are of interest to researcher. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of tDCS on adolescents’ decision-making and moral behavior.

The method of the present study is quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. 32 female high school students in Tehran were randomly selected and randomly divided into two groups of 16 people. The instruments used included the Ethical Sensitivity, Ethical Decision Making, and Ethical Behavior. Brain stimulation was performed with the TDCS device and at the DLPFC point of the brain anodally and unilaterally in six sessions of 20 minutes, 24 hours apart, with a voltage of 2 mA. Then, post-test was performed on both groups. Data were analyzed using t-test.

The results showed that there was a significant difference between the tDCS group and the control group in the variables of ethical decision making and ethical behavior (P<0.0001). Due to the difference in means, the tDCS group performed better than the control group.

In a general conclusion, it can be stated that a 6-session course of tDCS brain stimulation has a positive effect on the decision-making and moral behavior of ninth grade junior high school female students, so it is necessary to examine the effectiveness of this intervention with different groups and in various conditions. And in the case of confirming this finding, it should be considered in counseling and planning centers.