Transcranial direct current stimulation for empathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) has been used to modulate empathy, but no studies have meta-analyzed the evidence base for its efficacy. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of tDCS at modulating empathy. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials involving anodal or cathodal versus sham tDCS to modulate empathy in healthy adults and clinical populations. Random-effects modelling was applied to pooling overall efficacy estimates using standardized mean differences (Hedge’s g) and 95% confidence intervals. Outcome measures for tasks designed to measure empathy were reaction time and accuracy. Anodal tDCS appears to improve lab-based computerized measures of cognitive empathy in healthy adult volunteers. While the evidence provided by this review may be of relevance to individuals with impaired empathic capabilities, the generalizability of our findings is geared towards nonclinical populations given the preponderance of healthy volunteers in our review. Hence, it is not clear if moderate improvements in speed and accuracy on lab-based computerized empathy measures would lead to meaningful clinical improvements. Future studies should consider the use of tDCS to modulate empathy in clinical populations.