title: Facilitated lexical ambiguity processing by transcranial direct current stimulation over the left inferior frontal cortex.
abstract: Previous studies suggest that the left inferior frontal cortex is involved in the resolution of lexical ambiguities for language comprehension. In this study, we hypothesized that processing of lexical ambiguities is improved when the excitability of the left inferior frontal cortex is enhanced. To test the hypothesis, we conducted an experiment with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). We investigated the effect of anodal tDCS over the left inferior frontal cortex on behavioral indexes for semantic judgment on lexically ambiguous and unambiguous words within a context. Supporting the hypothesis, the RT was shorter in the anodal tDCS session than in the sham session for ambiguous words. The results suggest that controlled semantic retrieval and contextual selection were facilitated by anodal tDCS over the left inferior frontal cortex.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Aya S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Ihara
authors.forename: Takanori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mimura
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Soshi
authors.forename: Shiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yorifuji
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirata
authors.forename: Tetsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Toshiki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshinime
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Umehara
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fujimaki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time; D012660:Semantics; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult