Kroker Thomas, Rehbein Maimu Alissa, Wyczesany Miroslaw, Roesmann Kati, Wessing Ida, Junghöfer Markus
Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of Muenster, Germany.
Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2025 May 5;20(1). doi: 10.1093/scan/nsaf041.
The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is known as a central hub involved in affective learning from appetitive/aversive stimuli, as demonstrated in numerous studies examining affective stimuli. We used vmPFC-stimulation to test whether the concept of enhanced affective learning applies to enhanced inhibition of risky decisions and overgeneralized fear. Therefore, we modulated vmPFC-excitability non-invasively via transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) using excitatory, inhibitory, and sham stimulation. We re-analyzed previously published behavioral and magnetoencephalography data trial-wise to test whether improved learning is the mechanism underlying modulated gambling/fear generalization. Following excitatory vs. sham stimulation, participants gambled more rationally and got better at discriminating safe from threatening stimuli, as indicated by interactions between tDCS and gambling/fear stimuli. Three-way-interactions with trial-number suggest that these improvements developed during the experiment. In contrast, in the inhibitory group, these abilities deteriorated over the paradigm. The neural data dovetailed with behavioral effects, in that neural correlates of modulated learning after stimulation also developed over time. Our results indicate an association between vmPFC-activity and the ability to learn from appetitive/aversive stimuli. As impaired affective learning is a driving mechanism in mental disorders, these findings identify excitatory vmPFC-tDCS as a potential treatment, especially in combination with psychotherapy.
腹内侧前额叶皮质（vmPFC）被认为是参与从奖赏/厌恶刺激中进行情感学习的核心枢纽，众多研究情感刺激的实验均证明了这一点。我们利用vmPFC刺激来测试增强情感学习的概念是否适用于增强对风险决策的抑制以及过度泛化的恐惧。因此，我们通过经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）使用兴奋性、抑制性和伪刺激来非侵入性地调节vmPFC的兴奋性。我们逐试验地重新分析了先前发表的行为和脑磁图数据，以测试学习改善是否是调节赌博/恐惧泛化的潜在机制。与伪刺激相比，在兴奋性刺激后，参与者赌博更加理性，并且在区分安全刺激和威胁性刺激方面表现得更好，tDCS与赌博/恐惧刺激之间的相互作用表明了这一点。与试验次数的三因素相互作用表明，这些改善是在实验过程中出现的。相比之下，在抑制性刺激组中，这些能力在整个实验范式中逐渐下降。神经数据与行为效应相吻合，即刺激后调节学习的神经相关性也随时间发展。我们的结果表明vmPFC活动与从奖赏/厌恶刺激中学习的能力之间存在关联。由于情感学习受损是精神障碍的驱动机制，这些发现确定兴奋性vmPFC-tDCS是一种潜在的治疗方法，尤其是与心理治疗相结合时。
