Olson Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Temple University Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2011 Oct 12;3:16. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2011.00016. eCollection 2011.
Evidence from neuroimaging and neuropsychology suggests that portions of the anterior temporal lobes (ATLs) play a critical role in proper name retrieval. We previously found that anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the ATLs improved retrieval of proper names in young adults (Ross et al., 2010). Here we extend that finding to older adults who tend to experience greater proper-naming deficits than young adults. The task was to look at pictures of famous faces or landmarks and verbally recall the associated proper name. Our results show a numerical improvement in face naming after left or right ATL stimulation, but a statistically significant effect only after left-lateralized stimulation. The magnitude of the enhancing effect was similar in older and younger adults but the lateralization of the effect differed depending on age. The implications of these findings for the use of tDCS as tool for rehabilitation of age-related loss of name recall are discussed.
神经影像学和神经心理学的证据表明，前颞叶（ATL）的某些部分在正确名称检索中起着关键作用。我们之前发现，对 ATL 进行阳极经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）可改善年轻人的正确名称检索（Ross 等人，2010 年）。在这里，我们将这一发现扩展到老年人，他们往往比年轻人经历更大的正确命名缺陷。任务是查看名人面孔或地标图片，并口头回忆相关的正确名称。我们的结果显示，在对左或右 ATL 进行刺激后，面孔命名会有数值上的提高，但只有在左侧刺激后才会有统计学上的显著效果。在老年人和年轻人中，增强效果的幅度相似，但效果的偏侧性因年龄而异。讨论了这些发现对使用 tDCS 作为治疗与年龄相关的名称回忆丧失的工具的意义。
