title: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex enhances working memory.
abstract: Neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies have unequivocally identified the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) as a crucial structure for top-down control of working memory (WM) processes. By modulating the excitability of neurons in a targeted cortical area, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) offers a unique way to modulate DLPFC function, opening the possibility of WM facilitation. Even though TMS neuromodulation effects over the left DLPFC have successfully improved WM performance in patients with depression and schizophrenia in a multitude of studies, raising the potential of TMS as a safe efficacious treatment for WM deficits, TMS interventions in healthy individuals have produced mixed and inconclusive results. Here, we stimulated the left DLPFC of healthy individuals using a high-frequency repetitive TMS protocol and evaluated behavioral performance in a battery of cognitive tasks. We found that TMS treatment enhanced WM performance in a verbal digit span and a visuospatial 2-back task.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Cognitive Science Studies, Tehran, Iran.|McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Yasaman
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bagherzadeh
authors.affiliation: Institute for Cognitive Science Studies, Tehran, Iran. khorramiaanahita@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Anahita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khorrami
authors.affiliation: Institute for Cognitive Science Studies, Tehran, Iran.|Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Zarrindast
authors.affiliation: Institute for Cognitive Science Studies, Tehran, Iran.|Mental Health Research Center, Tehran Institute of Psychiatry-School of Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Vahid
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Shariat
authors.affiliation: McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pantazis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D065852:Spatial Memory / Q000502:physiology; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognitive enhancement; Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation; Working memory