Schicktanz Nathalie, Fastenrath Matthias, Milnik Annette, Spalek Klara, Auschra Bianca, Nyffeler Thomas, Papassotiropoulos Andreas, de Quervain Dominique J-F, Schwegler Kyrill
University of Basel, Department of Psychology, Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Psychiatric University Clinics, Basel, Switzerland.
University of Basel, Department of Psychology, Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, Basel, Switzerland.
PLoS One. 2015 Mar 17;10(3):e0120640. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0120640. eCollection 2015.
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a key role in working memory. Evidence indicates that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the DLPFC can interfere with working memory performance. Here we investigated for how long continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) over the DLPFC decreases working memory performance and whether the effect of cTBS on performance depends on working memory load. Forty healthy young subjects received either cTBS over the left DLPFC or sham stimulation before performing a 2-, and 3-back working memory letter task. An additional 0-back condition served as a non-memory-related control, measuring general attention. cTBS over the left DLPFC significantly impaired 2-back working memory performance for about 15 min, whereas 3-back and 0-back performances were not significantly affected. Our results indicate that the effect of left DLPFC cTBS on working memory performance lasts for roughly 15 min and depends on working memory load.
背外侧前额叶皮质（DLPFC）在工作记忆中起关键作用。有证据表明，对DLPFC进行经颅磁刺激（TMS）会干扰工作记忆表现。在此，我们研究了对DLPFC进行连续theta爆发刺激（cTBS）会使工作记忆表现下降多长时间，以及cTBS对表现的影响是否取决于工作记忆负荷。40名健康的年轻受试者在执行2-back和3-back工作记忆字母任务之前，接受了左侧DLPFC的cTBS或假刺激。另外一个0-back条件作为与记忆无关的对照，用于测量一般注意力。左侧DLPFC的cTBS显著损害了2-back工作记忆表现约15分钟，而3-back和0-back表现未受到显著影响。我们的结果表明，左侧DLPFC的cTBS对工作记忆表现的影响持续约15分钟，并且取决于工作记忆负荷。
