Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK; School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, UK.
Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK; School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, East Drive, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK.
Neuropsychologia. 2021 Nov 12;162:108047. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108047. Epub 2021 Oct 2.
Neuroimaging research demonstrated that the early stages of learning engage domain-general networks, non-specialist brain regions that process a wide variety of cognitive tasks. Those networks gradually disengage as learning progresses and learned information becomes processed in brain networks specialised for the specific function (e.g., language). In the current study, we used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in the form of continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) to test whether stimulation of the bilateral parietal region of the domain-general network impairs learning new vocabulary, indicating its causal engagement in this process. Twenty participants, with no prior knowledge of Polish, learned Polish words for well-known objects across three training stages. The first training stage started with cTBS applied to either the experimental domain-general bilateral parietal site or the control bilateral precentral site. Immediately after cTBS, the vocabulary training commenced. A different set of words was learned for each site. Immediately after the training stage, participants performed a novel vocabulary test, designed to measure their knowledge of the new words and the effect of stimulation on learning. To measure stimulation effect when the words were more established in the mental lexicon, participants received additional training on the same words but without cTBS (second training stage) and then the full procedures from the first training stage were repeated (third training stage). Results demonstrated that stimulation impaired novel word learning when applied to the bilateral parietal site at the first stage of learning only. This effect was not present when newly learned words were used more proficiently in the third training stage, or at any learning stage during control site stimulation. Our results show that the bilateral parietal region of the domain-general network causally contributes to the successful learning of novel words.
神经影像学研究表明，学习的早期阶段涉及到领域一般性网络，即处理各种认知任务的非专业大脑区域。随着学习的进展，这些网络逐渐脱离，而习得的信息则在专门处理特定功能（例如语言）的大脑网络中得到处理。在当前的研究中，我们使用重复经颅磁刺激（rTMS）形式的连续 theta 爆发刺激（cTBS）来测试双侧领域一般性网络的刺激是否会损害学习新词汇的能力，从而表明其在该过程中的因果参与。二十名参与者对波兰语一无所知，他们在三个训练阶段学习了波兰语中常见物体的名称。第一阶段的训练从应用于实验性双侧顶叶区域或对照性双侧额前区域的 cTBS 开始。cTBS 之后立即开始词汇训练。每个区域学习的单词都不同。在训练阶段之后，参与者立即进行了一项新的词汇测试，旨在测量他们对新单词的掌握程度以及刺激对学习的影响。为了测量当单词在心理词汇中更稳定时的刺激效果，参与者在相同的单词上接受了额外的训练，但没有 cTBS（第二阶段训练），然后重复第一阶段的全部程序（第三阶段训练）。结果表明，只有在第一阶段学习时，将 cTBS 应用于双侧顶叶区域才会损害新单词的学习。当在第三阶段训练中更熟练地使用新学单词时，或者在任何对照区域刺激的学习阶段，这种影响都不会出现。我们的结果表明，领域一般性网络的双侧顶叶区域对成功学习新单词有因果贡献。
