Education moderates the effect of tDCS on episodic memory performance in cognitively impaired patients

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can improve episodic memory performance. In healthy aging those with higher education seem to benefit particularly [1]. Whether the same applies to pathological aging remains to be tested. In pathological aging, however, the severity of cognitive impairment, which is influenced by pre-morbid cognition, compensatory processes, and neuropathology, needs to be considered. In this pilot study, we therefore tested whether education moderates the effect of tDCS on memory performance in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by also considering the level of cognitive impairment.