Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525 HP Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Academic Centre of Epileptology, Kempenhaeghe, 5590 AB Heeze, The Netherlands.
Learn Mem. 2018 Jul 16;25(8):382-389. doi: 10.1101/lm.048033.118. Print 2018 Aug.
Functional neuroimaging studies suggest a role for the left angular gyrus (AG) in processes related to memory recognition. However, results of neuropsychological and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies have been inconclusive regarding the specific contribution of the AG in recollection, familiarity, and the subjective experience of memory. To obtain further insight into this issue, 20 healthy right-handed volunteers performed a memory task in a single-blind within-subject controlled TMS study. Neuronavigated inhibitory repetitive TMS (rTMS) was applied over the left AG and the vertex in a randomized and counterbalanced order. Prior to rTMS participants were presented with a list of words. After rTMS participants were shown a second list of words and instructed to indicate if the word was already shown prior to rTMS ("old") or was presented for the first time ("new"). In addition, subjectively perceived memory confidence was assessed. Results showed that recollection was unaffected following inhibitory left AG rTMS. In contrast, rTMS over the left AG improved both familiarity and the subjectively perceived confidence of participants that demonstrated low baseline memory recognition. Our study highlights the importance of taking into account individual differences in experimental designs involving noninvasive brain stimulation.
功能神经影像学研究表明，左角回（AG）在与记忆识别相关的过程中起作用。然而，神经心理学和经颅磁刺激（TMS）研究的结果对于 AG 在回忆、熟悉度以及记忆的主观体验中的具体贡献尚无定论。为了进一步深入了解这个问题，20 名健康的右利手志愿者在一项单盲、内源性控制 TMS 研究中进行了一项记忆任务。在随机和平衡的顺序下，经神经导航的抑制性重复 TMS（rTMS）被应用于左 AG 和顶点。在 rTMS 之前，参与者会看到一组单词。在 rTMS 之后，参与者会看到第二组单词，并被指示如果该单词在 rTMS 之前已经显示过（“旧”）或首次显示（“新”）。此外，还评估了主观感知的记忆信心。结果表明，抑制性左 AG rTMS 后，回忆不受影响。相比之下，左 AG 的 rTMS 提高了熟悉度以及那些表现出低基线记忆识别的参与者的主观感知信心。我们的研究强调了在涉及非侵入性脑刺激的实验设计中考虑个体差异的重要性。
