N/A N=74 Randomized Single-blind Treatment

The Effects of HD-tDCS on Cognitive Bias Among Individuals With Social Anxiety Symptoms

Social Anxiety Disorder

Bottom Line

View on ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT07099521 ↗

Enrolled (actual)

Serious AEs

0.0%

Results posted

Dec 2025

Primary outcome: Primary: Trial-level Bias Score (Negative) — -54.92; -48.45; -44.29; -46.07 Milliseconds

Study Design & Population

Study type: Interventional
Phase: N/A
Interventions: Active High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (Device); Sham high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (Device)
Age: Adult · 18+ yrs
Sex: All
Sponsor: South China Normal University
Primary completion: Nov 2024

Outcome Measures

Outcome	Result	p-value
PRIMARY Trial-level Bias Score (Negative)	-54.92; -48.45; -44.29; -46.07	—
PRIMARY Endorsement Rates of Negative Interpretations	0.48; 0.44; 0.41; 0.44	—
PRIMARY Recognition Accuracy for Negative Words	0.84; 0.82; 0.77; 0.82	—
SECONDARY Peak Trial-level Bias Score (Negative)	-189.32; -159.66; -133.09; -139.22	—
SECONDARY Bias Score	-39.85; -92.98; -80.72; 45.72	—
SECONDARY Recall Accuracy for Negative Words	0.15; 0.15; 0.13; 0.15	—
SECONDARY Social Anxiety Symptoms	72.7; 66.94; 63.39; 63.52; 61.79; 60.42	—
SECONDARY Trait Anxiety	39.74; 42.87; 36.55; 41.45; 37.97; 42.03	—
SECONDARY Negative Cognitive Bias (Attention Bias)	16.64; 15.81; 16.64; 15.58; 16.12; 15.81	—
SECONDARY Negative Cognitive Bias (Interpretation Bias)	15.39; 16.74; 15.36; 15.94; 14.39; 15.81	—
SECONDARY Negative Cognitive Bias (Memory Bias)	16.06; 14.55; 16.09; 14.77; 14.85; 14.52	—

Summary

To examine the offline effects of high-definition tDCS (HD-tDCS) on attention, interpretation and memory biases in youth with social anxiety.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

18 -24 years old
No history of major organic brain diseases or mental disorders, and currently not taking hormone or mental disorder drugs, with no drug or alcohol dependence;
No experience of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) or transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in the past six months;
Participants are willing to participate and fill out the informed consent form;
The score of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) is less than 5 points;
The score of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) is greater than or equal to 55 points

Exclusion Criteria

any psychiatric disorders;
current or past diseases or injuries related to the brain;
medical pumps, pacemakers and cochlear implants in the body;
current pharmacological or mental treatments;
tDCS or TMS experiences over past year were also excluded.

View full record on ClinicalTrials.gov →

Data sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT07099521). Outcome figures and adverse-event rates are extracted automatically from the registry's posted results and are provided for clinician reference, not as a substitute for the primary publication.