Department of Neurology, Christian Doppler Clinic, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria.
Neurosci Lett. 2011 Jan 10;487(3):378-82. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2010.10.060. Epub 2010 Oct 29.
Although different lesion and neuroimaging studies had highlighted the importance of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in language switching, the nature of this higher cortical disorder of communication and its neural correlates have not been clearly established. To further investigate the functional involvement of the DLPFC, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) given as theta burst stimulation (TBS) in a bilingual patient showing pathologic language switching after an ischemic stroke involving the left frontal lobe. Inhibitory and excitatory TBS were applied to the left DLPFC, to the right DLPFC, or to an occipital cortical control site. A short-lasting interruption of the pathological language switching occurred after excitatory left DLPFC stimulation, while inhibitory left DLPFC TBS transiently increased the number of utterances produced in the unwanted second language. Effects were non-significant after right DLPFC and occipital TBS. Our findings suggest that left DLPFC is actively involved in language switching. TMS techniques may help in understanding the neural bases of bilingualism.
尽管不同的病变和神经影像学研究强调了背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC）在语言转换中的重要性，但这种高级皮质通讯障碍的性质及其神经相关性尚未明确确定。为了进一步研究 DLPFC 的功能相关性，我们在一位双语患者中使用经颅磁刺激（TMS）给予 theta 爆发刺激（TBS），该患者在左额叶发生缺血性中风后表现出病理性语言转换。抑制性和兴奋性 TBS 分别施加于左侧 DLPFC、右侧 DLPFC 或枕叶皮质对照部位。兴奋性左侧 DLPFC 刺激后，病理性语言转换的短暂中断，而抑制性左侧 DLPFC TBS 则短暂增加了产生的不必要的第二语言的话语数量。右侧 DLPFC 和枕叶 TBS 后的效果不显著。我们的发现表明左侧 DLPFC 积极参与语言转换。TMS 技术可能有助于理解双语的神经基础。
