scholarly journals Normal Electrical Activity of the Brain in Obsessive-Compulsive Patients After Anodal Stimulation of the Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamidreza Ghaffari ◽  
Ali Yoonessi ◽  
Mohammad Javad Darvishi ◽  
Akbar Ahmadi ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Electrical Activity ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Anodal Stimulation ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Stimulation Of

scholarly journals Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation of the Prefrontal Cortex Enhances Complex Verbal Associative Thought

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 1980-1987 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo Cerruti ◽  
Gottfried Schlaug
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Direct Current ◽  
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Anodal Stimulation ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Stimulation Of

The remote associates test (RAT) is a complex verbal task with associations to both creative thought and general intelligence. RAT problems require not only lateral associations and the internal production of many words but a convergent focus on a single answer. Complex problem-solving of this sort may thus require both substantial verbal processing and strong executive function capacities. Previous studies have provided evidence that verbal task performance can be enhanced by noninvasive transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). tDCS modulates excitability of neural tissue depending on the polarity of the current. The after-effects of this modulation may have effects on task performance if the task examined draws on the modulated region. Studies of verbal cognition have focused largely on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (F3 of the 10–20 EEG system) as a region of interest. We planned to assess whether modulating excitability at F3 could affect complex verbal abilities. In Experiment 1 (anodal, cathodal, or sham stimulation over F3 with the reference electrode over the contralateral supraorbital region), we found a significant overall effect of stimulation condition on RAT performance. Post hoc tests showed an increase in performance after anodal stimulation (1 mA) compared to sham (p = .025) and to cathodal stimulation (p = .038). In Experiment 2 (either anodal stimulation at F3 or separately at its homologue F4), we replicated the anodal effect of the first study, but also showed that anodal stimulation of F4 had no effect on RAT performance. These data provide evidence that anodal stimulation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex can improve performance on a complex verbal problem-solving task believed to require significant executive function capacity.

scholarly journals Reducing future fears by suppressing the brain mechanisms underlying episodic simulation

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (52) ◽  
pp. E8492-E8501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland G. Benoit ◽  
Daniel J. Davies ◽  
Michael C. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Episodic Simulation ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Future Events ◽  
The Right ◽  
Development Of Anxiety ◽  
The Brain

Imagining future events conveys adaptive benefits, yet recurrent simulations of feared situations may help to maintain anxiety. In two studies, we tested the hypothesis that people can attenuate future fears by suppressing anticipatory simulations of dreaded events. Participants repeatedly imagined upsetting episodes that they feared might happen to them and suppressed imaginings of other such events. Suppressing imagination engaged the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which modulated activation in the hippocampus and in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Consistent with the role of the vmPFC in providing access to details that are typical for an event, stronger inhibition of this region was associated with greater forgetting of such details. Suppression further hindered participants’ ability to later freely envision suppressed episodes. Critically, it also reduced feelings of apprehensiveness about the feared scenario, and individuals who were particularly successful at down-regulating fears were also less trait-anxious. Attenuating apprehensiveness by suppressing simulations of feared events may thus be an effective coping strategy, suggesting that a deficiency in this mechanism could contribute to the development of anxiety.

Altruism from the Perspective of the Social Neurosciences

e-Neuroforum ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. A11-A18
Author(s):  
Sabine Windmann ◽  
Grit Hein
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Levels Of Explanation ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
The Social ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Research Studies

Abstract Altruism is a puzzling phenomenon, especially for Biology and Economics. Why do individuals reduce their chances to provide some of the resources they own to others? The answer to this question can be sought at ultimate or proximate levels of explanation. The Social Neurosciences attempt to specify the brain mechanisms that drive humans to act altruistically, in assuming that overtly identical behaviours can be driven by different motives. The research has shown that activations and functional connectivities of the Anterior Insula and the Temporoparietal Junction play specific roles in empathetic versus strategic forms of altruism, whereas the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, among other regions, is involved in norm-oriented punitive forms of altruism. Future research studies could focus on the processing of ambiguity and conflict in pursuit of altruistic intentions.

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