High-definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex to Enhance Metacognitive Sensitivity

In human-AI collaboration, task delegation is a critical component. Ideally, if a person believes they are capable of completing a task, they should do so themselves; otherwise, the task should be delegated to the other party. Such delegation decisions are influenced by individuals' assessments of their own abilities, which are shaped by metacognition-the capacity to evaluate one's own capacities. High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technology that can regulate the excitability of the cerebral cortex to improve human performance. This protocol presents a method that employs HD-tDCS to investigate its effects on human metacognition during human-AI delegation tasks, detailing the procedure for applying anodal, cathodal, or sham stimulation to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Stimulation was performed using a portable HD-tDCS device, using a circumferential arrangement of five electrodes, including one target electrode and four return electrodes. The stimulation lasted for a total of 21 min, and the current intensity was 2 mA. This method is expected to provide a new research path for further in-depth exploration of the neural mechanisms and behavioral regulation of humans in the process of human-AI collaborative task delegation and provide a solid theoretical basis for further optimizing human-AI collaborative tasks.