Elsevier

Neuroscience Letters

Volume 487, Issue 3, 10 January 2011, Pages 378-382
Neuroscience Letters

Theta burst stimulation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex modulates pathological language switching: A case report

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2010.10.060Get rights and content

Abstract

Although different lesion and neuroimaging studies had highlighted the importance of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in language switching, the nature of this higher cortical disorder of communication and its neural correlates have not been clearly established. To further investigate the functional involvement of the DLPFC, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) given as theta burst stimulation (TBS) in a bilingual patient showing pathologic language switching after an ischemic stroke involving the left frontal lobe. Inhibitory and excitatory TBS were applied to the left DLPFC, to the right DLPFC, or to an occipital cortical control site. A short-lasting interruption of the pathological language switching occurred after excitatory left DLPFC stimulation, while inhibitory left DLPFC TBS transiently increased the number of utterances produced in the unwanted second language. Effects were non-significant after right DLPFC and occipital TBS. Our findings suggest that left DLPFC is actively involved in language switching. TMS techniques may help in understanding the neural bases of bilingualism.

Research highlights

▶ Neuroimaging studies had highlighted the importance of the DLPFC in language switching. ▶ The nature of language switching and its neural correlates have not been clearly established. ▶ We used TBS in a bilingual patient showing pathologic language switching. ▶ An interruption of language switching occurred after excitatory left DLPFC stimulation. ▶ Inhibitory left DLPFC TBS transiently increased the language switching. ▶ Our findings suggest that left DLPFC is actively involved in language switching. ▶ TMS techniques may help in understanding the neural bases of bilingualism.

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      Neuropsychological cases (Fabbro, Skrap, & Aglioti, 2000; Meuter, Humphreys, & Rumiati, 2002; Nardone et al., 2011) as well as neuroimaging (Hernandez, Dapretto, Mazziotta, & Bookheimer, 2001; Hernandez, Martinez, & Kohnert, 2000; Khateb et al., 2007; Mouthon et al., 2019) and intracranial electric stimulation studies (Lubrano, Prod’homme, Démonet, & Köpke, 2012; Sierpowska et al., 2018, 2013) assume a causal role of the left DLPFC in language control. However, two case studies investigating noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) over the left frontal cortex showed deviating effects on language switching (increase versus decrease after excitatory stimulation; Holtzheimer, Fawaz, Wilson, & Avery, 2005; Nardone et al., 2011). Moreover, no study has so far investigated whether the left DLPFC specifically contributes to inhibiting the non-target language.

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