We examined effects of theta burst stimulation (TBS) applied over two distinct cortical areas (the right inferior frontal gyrus and the left superior parietal lobule) on the Stroop task performance in 20 young healthy subjects. Neural underpinnings of the behavioral effect were tested using fMRI. A single session of intermittent TBS of the left superior parietal lobule induced certain cognitive speed enhancement and significantly increased resting-state connectivity of the dorsal attention network. This is an exploratory study that prompts further research with multiple-session TBS in subjects with cognitive impairment.

• MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Random Allocation MeSH
• Nerve Net physiology   MeSH
• Attention physiology   MeSH
• Psychomotor Performance physiology   MeSH
• Stroop Test MeSH
• Parietal Lobe physiology   MeSH
• Theta Rhythm physiology   MeSH
• Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation methods   MeSH
• Healthy Volunteers MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH

We studied whether one session of high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) applied over either the right or left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex would induce any measurable changes in the Tower of London spatial planning task performance in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Ten patients with PD (with no dementia and/or depression) entered the randomized, sham-stimulation-controlled study with a crossover design. Active and placebo rTMS were applied over either the left or the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (in four separate sessions) in each patient. The order of sessions was randomized. The Tower of London task was performed prior to and immediately after each appropriate session. The "total problem-solving time" was our outcome measure. Only active rTMS of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex induced significant enhancement of the total problem-solving time, p = 0.038. Stimulation of the left prefrontal cortex or sham stimulations induced no significant effects. Only rTMS applied over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex induced positive changes in the spatial planning task performance in PD, which further supports the results of functional imaging studies indicating the causal engagement of the right-sided hemispheric structures in solving the task in this patient population.

• MeSH
• Executive Function physiology   MeSH
• Functional Laterality physiology   MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Brain Mapping * MeSH
• Neuropsychological Tests MeSH
• Parkinson Disease pathology   MeSH
• Prefrontal Cortex physiopathology   MeSH
• Problem Solving MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation * MeSH
• Mental Status Schedule MeSH
• Check Tag
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Randomized Controlled Trial MeSH