[Purpose] The aim of this study was to assess the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on depression and quality of life (QOL) in patients with stroke, by conducting conventional occupational therapy with and without tDCS on 20 patients each. [Subjects and Methods] The experimental group (N=20) received both tDCS and conventional occupational therapy, while the control group (N=20) received false tDCS and conventional occupational therapy. The treatment was conducted 20 times over a four-week period; each session was 30 minutes long. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was administered to score the depression levels in patients before and after the intervention, while the stroke-specific quality of life (SS-QOL) was measured to compare the QOL. [Result] Following the intervention, the patients in the experimental group showed a significant decrease in depression and an increase in the QOL. In contrast, the control group showed no significant changes in depression or QOL. Our findings indicate that tDCS decreased depression while increasing QOL in patients with stroke. [Conclusion] In other words, our study confirmed that the application of tDCS during stroke rehabilitation improves the depression symptoms and QOL in patients.

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an occupation-centered activity program for dementia patients living in a local community, and examined the effects of the occupation-centered activity program on their cognitive functions, fall-related factors, and quality of life. [Subjects and Methods] Thirty subjects were divided into two groups: the experiment group (n=15) and the control group (n=15). The occupation-centered activity program was then applied to dementia patients for 60 minutes, 5 times/week for 12 weeks. To identify their cognitive functions before and after the intervention occupation-centered activity program, Mini-Mental State Examination-Korea (MMSE-K) and the Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) were used. To assess fall-related factors, Korean Falls Efficacy Scale for the Elderly (FES-K) was used and leg strength, agility, and balance of the participants was measured. To examine quality of life, the Korean version of Quality of Life-Alzheimer’s Disease Scale (KQOL-AD) was used. [Results] The results of the intervention showed that although cognitive function improved in both the experimental and control groups, fall-related factors and the quality of life significantly improved only in the experimental group. [Conclusion] This indicates that the occupation-centered activity program had a positive effect on dementia patients’ cognitive functions, fall-related factors, and quality of life.

Choices of humans and non-human primates are influenced by both actually experienced and fictive outcomes. To test whether this is also the case in rodents, we examined rat's choice behavior in a binary choice task in which variable magnitudes of actual and fictive rewards were delivered. We found that the animal's choice was significantly influenced by the magnitudes of both actual and fictive rewards in the previous trial. A model-based analysis revealed, however, that the effect of fictive reward was more transient and influenced mostly the choice in the next trial, whereas the effect of actual reward was more sustained, consistent with incremental learning of action values. Our results suggest that the capacity to modify future choices based on fictive outcomes might be shared by many different animal species, but fictive outcomes are less effective than actual outcomes in the incremental value learning system.