title: The role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in early threat processing: a TMS study.
abstract: Previous studies demonstrated that excitatory (high frequency) offline transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) modulates attention allocation on threatening stimuli in non-clinical samples. These studies only employed offline TMS protocol that did not allow investigating the effect of the stimulation on the early stage of threat processing. In this study, the role of the right and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in early threat processing was investigated in high and low anxious individuals by means of an inhibitory single-pulse online TMS protocol. Our results demonstrated the role of the left DLPFC in an early stage of threat processing and that this effect is modulated by individuals' anxiety level. The inhibitory stimulation of the left DLPFC determined a disengagement bias in high anxious individuals, while the same stimulation determined an attentional avoidance in low anxious individuals. The findings of the present study suggest that right and left DLPFC are differently involved in early threat processing of healthy individuals.
authors: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Viale Ellittico 31, Caserta, 81100, Italy laurasagliano@gmail.com.
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Sagliano
authors: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Viale Ellittico 31, Caserta, 81100, Italy.
authors: Francesca
authors: F
authors: D'Olimpio
authors: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Viale Ellittico 31, Caserta, 81100, Italy.
authors: Francesco
authors: F
authors: Panico
authors: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Viale Ellittico 31, Caserta, 81100, Italy.
authors: Serena
authors: S
authors: Gagliardi
authors: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Viale Ellittico 31, Caserta, 81100, Italy.
authors: Luigi
authors: L
authors: Trojano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: DLPFC; TMS; anxiety; attention; threat