An interventional study of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Schizophrenia, sponsored by University of California, Davis. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 47 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-03-30.
Sponsored by University of California, Davis · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
People with schizophrenia often have problems with attention, learning and memory and other cognitive abilities that interfere with their work and school performance. Unfortunately, even our best treatments often do not significantly reduce these cognitive problems. The current study investigates whether or not delivering a very small electrical current to people's foreheads (called, transcranial direct current stimulation; (tDCS)) might improve functioning in the front part of the brain and reduce these cognitive problems in people with schizophrenia. tDCS is non-invasive and has been shown to improve cognitive functioning in some preliminary studies. The current study will investigate whether giving tDCS during a task is more effective than giving it during rest (Aim 1), whether delivery of tDCS to the front of the head is more effective than delivery to the back of the head (Aim 2), and whether tDCS delivery will alter levels of a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain (GABA; Aim 3) that is important to cognitive functioning and may be disrupted in people with schizophrenia. Although this study is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat schizophrenia or any other disease, if results are positive it will encourage future large-scale studies to determine if tDCS can become an effective treatment for cognitive problems in people with schizophrenia.
3,471 studies on the registry are indexed under Schizophrenia; 472 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 160 is above the median of 70 across 2,872 interventional studies indexed under Schizophrenia.
Browse Schizophrenia studies →University of California, Davis is the lead sponsor of 798 studies on the registry; 146 are open to participants now.
Of its 65 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 43 (66%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Inclusion Criteria for Patients with Schizophrenia Only:
Exclusion Criteria:
Intervention. 20 minutes of 2 mA direct current stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during cognitive task completion.
Device: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
Intervention. 20 minutes of 2 mA direct current stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during rest.
Device: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
Placebo Comparator. 0.5-1 minutes of 2 mA direct current stimulation over dorsolateral prefrontal cortex followed by 19-19.5 minutes of sham stimulation, during cognitive task completion.
Device: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
Placebo Comparator. 0.5-1 minutes of 2 mA direct current stimulation over dorsolateral prefrontal cortex followed by 19-19.5 minutes of sham stimulation, during rest.
Device: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
In tDCS, saline-soaked electrodes are temporary affixed to the scalp and connected to a battery-powered current generator. A weak (2 mA) constant current is then briefly applied (\~20 minutes) to stimulate the targeted brain area (e.g. the DLPFC). To control for placebo effects, the study will utilize a sham stimulation protocol that consists of very brief constant stimulation (\~1 minute). Subjects usually cannot discern the difference between the sham and experimental stimulation protocols due to habituation.
EEG Correlates of Language and Cognitive Control
Electrophysiological data recorded during completion of cognitive control tasks. We will measure oscillatory activity from 3-80 Hz.
Time frame: Assessment will begin immediately following stimulation and last for about 1.5 hours.
Behavioral Response
We will assess performance on the Dot Pattern Expectancy (DPX) task (error rates).
Time frame: Assessment will begin immediately following stimulation and last for about 1.5 hours.
Behavioral Response
We will assess performance on the Dot Pattern Expectancy (DPX) task (d-prime scores).
Time frame: Assessment will begin immediately following stimulation and last for about 1.5 hours.
Plan to share: Yes — Select data from this study may be submitted to the National Institute of Mental Health Data Archive (NDA). NDA is a data repository run by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) that allows researchers studying mental illness to collect and share de-identified information with each other. The data repository is accessible only to qualified investigators. All subject data will be de-identified (subject names will not be used) and each subject will have a separate identifier called a Global Unique Identifier (GUID) to remove any possibility that "the identities of the subjects cannot be readily ascertained or otherwise associated with the data by the repository staff or secondary data users." (45 CFR, 46.102).
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University of California, Davis