Modulating task outcome value to mitigate real-world procrastination via noninvasive brain stimulation

Procrastination represents one of the most prevalent behavioral problems affecting individual health and societal productivity. Although it is often conceptualized as a form of self-control failure, its underlying neurocognitive mechanisms are poorly understood. A leading model posits that procrastination arises from imbalanced competing motivations: the avoidance of negative task aversiveness and the pursuit of positive task outcomes, yet this theoretical framework has not fully validated in real-world settings and not applied effectively to guide interventions. Here, we addressed this gap with a preregistered, double-blind, randomized controlled trial. We applied seven sessions of high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a key region for self-control, in chronic procrastinators. Using the intensive experience sampling method (iESM), we assessed the effect of anodal HD-tDCS on real-world procrastination behavior at offline after-effect (2-day interval) and long-term retention (6-month follow-up). We found that this neuromodulation produced a lasting reduction in real-world procrastination, with effects sustained at a 6-month follow-up. While the intervention both decreased task aversiveness and increased perceived task outcome value, causal mediation analysis revealed a striking mechanism: the increase in task outcome value uniquely and sufficiently mediated the entire behavioral improvement. In conclusion, these findings provide causal evidence that enhancing DLPFC function mitigates procrastination by selectively amplifying the valuation of future rewards, not by simply reducing negative feelings about the task. This establishes a precise, value-driven neurocognitive pathway for self-control and offers a validated, theory-driven strategy for intervention.