Continuous theta-burst stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex inhibits improvement on a working memory task

Teodóra Vékony, Viola Luca Németh, Adrienn Holczer, Krisztián Kocsis, Zsigmond Tamás Kincses, László Vécsei, Anita Must, Teodóra Vékony, Viola Luca Németh, Adrienn Holczer, Krisztián Kocsis, Zsigmond Tamás Kincses, László Vécsei, Anita Must

Abstract

Theta-burst stimulation (TBS) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) may be more effective for modulating cortical excitability compared to standard repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. However, the impact of intermittent (iTBS) and continuous TBS (cTBS) on working memory (WM) is poorly studied. The aim of our study was to compare the effects of iTBS and cTBS on WM over the left and right DLPFC. iTBS, cTBS or sham stimulation was administered over the right and left hemisphere of fifty-one healthy human subjects. WM was assessed before and after TBS using the 1-back, 2-back, and 3-back tasks. We found classical practice effects in the iTBS and the sham group: WM performance improved following stimulation as measured by the discriminability index. However, this effect could not be observed in the cTBS group. We did not find any hemisphere-dependent effects, suggesting that the practice effect is not lateralized, and TBS affects WM performance in a comparable manner if administered either over the left or the right hemisphere. We propose that our findings represent a useful addition to the literature of TBS-induced effects on WM. Moreover, these results indicate the possibility of clarifying processes underlying WM performance changes by using non-invasive brain stimulation.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pre- and post-stimulation n-back performance (d′ scores on 2-back and 3-back) when stimulating over the left (A) and right (B) DLPFC. Error bars indicate the standard error of mean. d′ scores improved in the iTBS and sham, but not in the cTBS group following stimulation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Illustration of the n-back task. Level 1-back, 2-back, and 3-back were tested separately.

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