scholarly journals Targeted stimulation of an orbitofrontal network disrupts decisions based on inferred, not experienced outcomes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fang Wang ◽  
James D. Howard ◽  
Joel L. Voss ◽  
Geoffrey Schoenbaum ◽  
Thorsten Kahnt
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Outcome Expectations ◽  
Direct Experience ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Model Free ◽  
Brain Circuits ◽  
Model Free Control ◽  
Theta Burst ◽  
Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation

ABSTRACTWhen direct experience is unavailable, animals and humans can imagine or infer the future to guide decisions. Behavior based on direct experience versus inference may recruit distinct but overlapping brain circuits. In rodents, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) contains neural signatures of inferred outcomes, and OFC is necessary for behavior that requires inference but not for responding driven by direct experience. In humans, OFC activity is also correlated with inferred outcomes, but it is unclear whether OFC activity is required for inference-based behavior. To test this, we used non-invasive network-based continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) to target lateral OFC networks in the context of a sensory preconditioning task that was designed to isolate inference-based behavior from responding that can be based on direct experience alone. We show that relative to sham, cTBS targeting this network impairs reward-related behavior in conditions in which outcome expectations have to be mentally inferred. In contrast, OFC-targeted stimulation does not impair behavior that can be based on previously experienced stimulus-outcome associations. These findings suggest that activity in the targeted OFC network supports decision making when outcomes have to be mentally simulated, providing converging cross-species evidence for a critical role of OFC in model-based but not model-free control of behavior.

Alcohol Dependence Conceptualized as a Stress Disorder

2019 ◽  
pp. 198-220
Author(s):  
Leandro F. Vendruscolo ◽  
George F. Koob
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Alcohol Dependence ◽  
Glucocorticoid Receptors ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Brain Circuits ◽  
Negative Emotional State ◽  
Alcohol Alcohol

Alcohol use disorder is a chronically relapsing disorder that involves (1) compulsivity to seek and take alcohol, (2) difficulty in limiting alcohol intake, and (3) emergence of a negative emotional state (e.g., dysphoria, anxiety, irritability) in the absence of alcohol. Alcohol addiction encompasses a three-stage cycle that becomes more intense as alcohol use progresses: binge/intoxication, withdrawal/negative affect, and preoccupation/anticipation. These stages engage neuroadaptations in brain circuits that involve the basal ganglia (reward hypofunction), extended amygdala (stress sensitization), and prefrontal cortex (executive function disorder). This chapter discusses key neuroadaptations in the hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic stress systems and the critical role of glucocorticoid receptors. These neuroadaptations contribute to negative emotional states that powerfully drive compulsive alcohol drinking and seeking. These changes in association with a disruption of prefrontal cortex function that lead to cognitive deficits and poor decision making contribute to the chronic relapsing nature of alcohol dependence.

scholarly journals Continuous Theta-Burst Stimulation Demonstrates a Causal Role of Premotor Homunculus in Action Understanding

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 963-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Michael ◽  
Kristian Sandberg ◽  
Joshua Skewes ◽  
Thomas Wolf ◽  
Jakob Blicher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Causal Role ◽  
Action Understanding ◽  
Theta Burst Stimulation ◽  
Burst Stimulation ◽  
Theta Burst ◽  
Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation

Inhibitory Theta Burst Stimulation Highlights the Role of Left aIPS and Right TPJ during Complementary and Imitative Human–Avatar Interactions in Cooperative and Competitive Scenarios

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 1677-1687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Era ◽  
Salvatore Maria Aglioti ◽  
Matteo Candidi
Keyword(s):  
Theta Burst Stimulation ◽  
Cooperative Interactions ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Reach And Grasp ◽  
Action Imitation ◽  
Complementary Interactions ◽  
Anterior Intraparietal Sulcus ◽  
Theta Burst ◽  
Goal Coding

Abstract Competitive and cooperative interactions are based on anticipation or synchronization with the partner’s actions. Both forms of interaction may either require performing imitative or complementary movements with respect to those performed by our partner. We explored how parietal regions involved in the control of imitative behavior (temporo-parietal junction, TPJ), goal coding and visuo-motor integration (anterior intraparietal sulcus, aIPS) contribute to the execution of imitative and complementary movements during cooperative and competitive interactions. To this aim, we delivered off-line non-invasive inhibitory brain stimulation to healthy individuals’ left aIPS and right TPJ before they were asked to reach and grasp an object together with a virtual partner by either performing imitative or complementary interactions. In different blocks, participants were asked to compete or cooperate with the virtual partner that varied its behavior according to cooperative or competitive contexts. Left aIPS and right TPJ inhibition impaired individuals’ performance (i.e., synchrony in cooperative task and anticipation in competition) during complementary and imitative interactions, respectively, in both cooperative and competitive contexts, indicating that aIPS and TPJ inhibition affects own-other action integration and action imitation (that are different in complementary vs imitative interactions) more than action synchronization or anticipation (that are different in cooperative vs competitive contexts).

scholarly journals Transcranial theta-burst stimulation of primary sensory cortex attenuates somatosensory threat memory in humans

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karita E Ojala ◽  
Matthias Staib ◽  
Samuel Gerster ◽  
Christian C Ruff ◽  
Dominik R Bach
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Cortex ◽  
Initial Stimulus ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Healthy Humans ◽  
Primary Sensory Cortex ◽  
Complex Stimuli ◽  
Sensory Cortices ◽  
Theta Burst ◽  
Stimulation Of

Sensory cortices are required for learning to discriminate complex stimuli that predict threat from those that predict safety in rodents. Yet, sensory cortices may not be needed to learn threat associations to simple stimuli. It is unknown whether these findings apply in humans. Here, we investigated the role of primary sensory cortex in discriminative threat conditioning with simple and complex somatosensory conditioned stimuli (CS) in healthy humans. Immediately before conditioning, participants received continuous theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (cTBS) to primary somatosensory cortex either in the CS-contralateral or CS-ipsilateral hemisphere. After overnight consolidation, threat memory was attenuated in the contralateral compared to the ipsilateral group, as indicated by reduced startle eye-blink potentiation. There was no evidence for a difference between simple and complex stimuli, or that CS identification or conditioning was affected, suggesting a stronger effect of cTBS on consolidation than on initial stimulus processing. We propose that non-invasive stimulation of sensory cortex may provide a new avenue for interfering with threat memories in humans.

scholarly journals Critical role of glutamatergic and GABAergic neurotransmission in the central mechanisms of theta‐burst stimulation

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 2001-2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng‐Ta Li ◽  
Ying‐Zu Huang ◽  
Ya‐Mei Bai ◽  
Shih‐Jen Tsai ◽  
Tung‐Ping Su ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Theta Burst Stimulation ◽  
Burst Stimulation ◽  
Gabaergic Neurotransmission ◽  
Theta Burst

scholarly journals Experimental Protocol to Test Explicit Motor Learning–Cerebellar Theta Burst Stimulation

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Ortelli ◽  
Davide Ferrazzoli ◽  
Roberto Maestri ◽  
Leopold Saltuari ◽  
Markus Kofler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Theta Burst Stimulation ◽  
Burst Stimulation ◽  
Implicit Processes ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Learning And Adaptation ◽  
Theta Burst ◽  
Explicit Motor Learning

Implicit and explicit motor learning processes work interactively in everyday life to promote the creation of highly automatized motor behaviors. The cerebellum is crucial for motor sequence learning and adaptation, as it contributes to the error correction and to sensorimotor integration of on-going actions. A non-invasive cerebellar stimulation has been demonstrated to modulate implicit motor learning and adaptation. The present study aimed to explore the potential role of cerebellar theta burst stimulation (TBS) in modulating explicit motor learning and adaptation, in healthy subjects. Cerebellar TBS will be applied immediately before the learning phase of a computerized task based on a modified Serial Reaction Time Task (SRTT) paradigm. Here, we present a study protocol aimed at evaluating the behavioral effects of continuous (cTBS), intermittent TBS (iTBS), or sham Theta Burst Stimulation (TBS) on four different conditions: learning, adaptation, delayed recall and re-adaptation of SRTT. We are confident to find modulation of SRTT performance induced by cerebellar TBS, in particular, processing acceleration and reduction of error in all the conditions induced by cerebellar iTBS, as already known for implicit processes. On the other hand, we expect that cerebellar cTBS could induce opposite effects. Results from this protocol are supposed to advance the knowledge about the role of non-invasive cerebellar modulation in neurorehabilitation, providing clinicians with useful data for further exploiting this technique in different clinical conditions.

scholarly journals Role of the prefrontal cortex in prosocial and self-maximization motivations: an rTMS study

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oksana Zinchenko ◽  
Olga Savelo ◽  
Vasily Klucharev
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Prosocial Behavior ◽  
Dictator Game ◽  
Prosocial Motives ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
The Right ◽  
Theta Burst ◽  
Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation ◽  
Healthy Participants

AbstractMore than a decade of neuroimaging and brain stimulation studies point to a crucial role for the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC) in prosocial behavior. The intuitive prosociality model postulates that the rDLPFC controls intuitive prosocial behavior, whereas the reflective model assumes that the rDLPFC controls selfish impulses during prosocial behavior. The intuitive prosociality model implies that the transient disruption of the rDLPFC should increase voluntary transfers in both dictator and generosity games. In contrast, the reflective model suggests that the transient disruption of the rDLPFC should decrease transfers in the dictator game, without affecting voluntary transfers in the generosity game, in which selfish motives are minimized. The aim of this paper was to compare predictions of the intuitive and reflective models using the classic dictator game and generosity game and continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS). In this study, two groups of healthy participants (dictators) received either cTBS over the rDLPFC or right extrastriate visual areas. As shown by the results, the transient disruption of the rDLPFC significantly promoted prosocial motives in the dictator game only, particularly in the trials with the lowest dictator’s costs. These findings partially support the notion that the rDLPFC controls intuitive prosocial behavior.

scholarly journals Brain Circuits Involved in the Development of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: Evidence From Non-invasive Brain Stimulation

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mina Kandić ◽  
Vera Moliadze ◽  
Jamila Andoh ◽  
Herta Flor ◽  
Frauke Nees
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Musculoskeletal Pain ◽  
Brain Stimulation ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Mechanistic Models ◽  
Imaging Studies ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Brain Circuits ◽  
The Brain

It has been well-documented that the brain changes in states of chronic pain. Less is known about changes in the brain that predict the transition from acute to chronic pain. Evidence from neuroimaging studies suggests a shift from brain regions involved in nociceptive processing to corticostriatal brain regions that are instrumental in the processing of reward and emotional learning in the transition to the chronic state. In addition, dysfunction in descending pain modulatory circuits encompassing the periaqueductal gray and the rostral anterior cingulate cortex may also be a key risk factor for pain chronicity. Although longitudinal imaging studies have revealed potential predictors of pain chronicity, their causal role has not yet been determined. Here we review evidence from studies that involve non-invasive brain stimulation to elucidate to what extent they may help to elucidate the brain circuits involved in pain chronicity. Especially, we focus on studies using non-invasive brain stimulation techniques [e.g., transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), particularly its repetitive form (rTMS), transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)] in the context of musculoskeletal pain chronicity. We focus on the role of the motor cortex because of its known contribution to sensory components of pain via thalamic inhibition, and the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex because of its role on cognitive and affective processing of pain. We will also discuss findings from studies using experimentally induced prolonged pain and studies implicating the DLPFC, which may shed light on the earliest transition phase to chronicity. We propose that combined brain stimulation and imaging studies might further advance mechanistic models of the chronicity process and involved brain circuits. Implications and challenges for translating the research on mechanistic models of the development of chronic pain to clinical practice will also be addressed.

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