the effect of cathodal transcranial direct-current stimulation (c-tdcs) of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlpfc) on learning simple serves in beginner volleyball learners

This study aimed at determining the effect of cathodal transcranial direct-current stimulation (c-tdcs) of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlpfc) on learning simple volleyball serves. this semi-experimental study was performed as pre-test and post-test with a control group. thirty male volleyball players with an average age of 14±0.50 years were selected through purposeful sampling based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. the participants were randomly assigned to experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. during eight consecutive sessions, the left dlpfc of participants was stimulated for 10 min using sham and real c-tdcs of 1.5 ma before each session. the participants then performed 35 simple volleyball serves. absolute error and total variability of participants' performance in pre-test, in the first, third and eighth sessions were recorded. data analysis by repeated-measures showed that there was a significant difference between absolute error (f=14.597, p = 0.001) and total variability (f=17.523, p = 0.001) of experimental and control group performance. ancova showed that absolute error and total variability of the experimental group performance was respectively (p = 0.013 and p = 0.018) in the first session, (p = 0.021 and p = 0.007) in the third session and (p = 0.001 and p = 0.001) in the eighth session, which were significantly higher than that in the control group. thus, it seems that c-tdcs of dlpfc is associated with reduced declarative memory activity in the cognitive stage leading to a negative impact on serve learning in beginner volleyball learners.