tDCS Effects on Resisting Smoking: Dose Ranging Study
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT02624284. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Behaviors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diet, and sedentary behavior have far-reaching health implications. These modifiable behaviors account for a substantial proportion of deaths from cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and take a significant economic toll. Yet, many unhealthy behaviors are very resistant to change, despite widespread knowledge of the risks. Although theories of behavior change have been advanced to explain the persistence of these behaviors, few consider the neurobehavioral underpinnings. These approaches also fail to address a fundamental aspect of behavior change - an individual's ability to exert sufficient self-control to overcome temptations for immediate gratification and/or to maintain attention to long-term goals. With advances in the neuroimaging field, the investigators are learning where and how self-control over decisions and behaviors is executed in the brain. This work points to the central role of neural activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (DLPFC) in self-control processes that contribute to healthy choices. Further, emerging evidence shows that activity in the prefrontal cortices and cognitive control circuits can be modulated using a noninvasive and safe intervention: direct current transcranial stimulation (tDCS). The investigators pilot study, IRB study #820231, demonstrated that a single session of 1mA tDCS increased the ability to resist smoking in a validated smoking lapse paradigm. The current study will use a between-subject design to investigate the dose/response relationship between tDCS (administered at 1mA, 2mA, or sham stimulation for three sessions) and ability to resist smoking.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT02624284
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 172 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 60 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepts healthy volunteers
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Oct 31, 2015
- Primary completion
- Mar 30, 2018
- Completion
- Mar 30, 2018
- Last update posted
- Mar 18, 2019
2015 – 2018
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | 19104 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT02624284, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Mar 18, 2019 · Synced Sep 3, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT02624284 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.