The Role of Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Language Processing

Production Task ◽

Double Blind ◽

Left Dlpfc ◽

In addition to the role of left frontotemporal areas in language processing, there is increasing evidence that language comprehension and production require control and working memory resources involving the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the left DLPFC in both language comprehension and production. In a double-blind, sham-controlled crossover experiment, thirty-two participants received cathodal or sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the left DLPFC while performing a language comprehension and a language production task. Results showed that cathodal tDCS increases reaction times in the language comprehension task, but decreases naming latencies in the language production task. However, additional analyses revealed that the polarity of tDCS effects was highly correlated across tasks, implying differential individual susceptibility to the effect of tDCS within participants. Overall, our findings demonstrate that left DLPFC is part of the complex cortical network associated with language processing.

The causal role of right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in visual working memory

Acta Psychologica Sinica ◽

10.3724/sp.j.1041.2018.00727 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 50 (7) ◽

pp. 727 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Visual Working Memory ◽

Causal Role ◽

Functional role of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the modulation of cognitive bias

Psychophysiology ◽

10.1111/psyp.13894 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Xue Xia ◽

Yansong Li ◽

Yanqiu Wang ◽

Jing Xia ◽

Yitong Lin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Cognitive Bias ◽

Functional Role ◽

The role of the mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in working memory

Experimental Brain Research ◽

10.1007/s002210000399 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 133 (1) ◽

pp. 44-54 ◽

Cited By ~ 258

Author(s):

Michael Petrides

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Reducing future fears by suppressing the brain mechanisms underlying episodic simulation

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1606604114 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 113 (52) ◽

pp. E8492-E8501 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Roland G. Benoit ◽

Daniel J. Davies ◽

Michael C. Anderson

Keyword(s):

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.