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Prefontal cortex in long-term memory: an “interference” approach using magnetic stimulation

Nature Neuroscience volume 4, pages 948–952 (2001)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 October 2002

Abstract

Neuroimaging has consistently shown engagement of the prefrontal cortex during episodic memory tasks, but the functional relevance of this metabolic/hemodynamic activation in memory processing is still to be determined. We used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to transiently interfere with either left or right prefrontal brain activity during the encoding or retrieval of pictures showing complex scenes. We found that the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was crucial for the retrieval of the encoded pictorial information, whereas the left DLPFC was involved in encoding operations. This 'interference' approach allowed us to establish whether a cortical area activated by a memory task actually contributes to behavioral performance.

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Figure 1: Sites of TMS and experimental timing.
Figure 2: Effects of rTMS on retrieval and reaction time.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Polese, K. Sosta and I. Benaglio for help with experiments. The work was partly supported by Ministero della Sanità (Progetto Finalizzato 1999) and by Fondazione Telethon Onlus (E.C0985).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IRCCS S Giovanni di Dio, Via Pilastroni 4, Brescia, I-25125, Italy

    Simone Rossi, Claudio Babiloni, Carlo Miniussi, Filippo Carducci & Paolo M. Rossini

  2. Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Sezione Neurologia, U.O. di Neurofisiopatologia, Policlinico Le Scotte, Viale Bracci, Siena, I-53100, Italy

    Simone Rossi

  3. Centro di Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università Salute-Vita S. Raffaele, DIBIT Via Olgettina 58, Milano, 20132, Italy

    Stefano F. Cappa

  4. Dipartimento di Fisiologia Umana e Farmacologia, Università La Sapienza, P. le A. Moro 5, Roma, I-00185, Italy

    Claudio Babiloni, Filippo Carducci & Fabio Babiloni

  5. AFaR (Associazione Fatebenefratelli per la Ricerca)—Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, S. Giovanni Calibita, Fatebenefratelli Isola Tiberina, Roma, I-00186, Italy

    Patrizio Pasqualetti & Fabio Babiloni

  6. Neurologia, Università Campus Biomedico, Roma, Italy

    Paolo M. Rossini

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Correspondence to Simone Rossi.

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Rossi, S., Cappa, S., Babiloni, C. et al. Prefontal cortex in long-term memory: an “interference” approach using magnetic stimulation. Nat Neurosci 4, 948–952 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0901-948

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