Article

High frequency (HF) repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) of the
right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been shown to induce an
attentional bias towards threatening information in healthy adults, associated
with decreased activation in the right DLPFC and increased activation in the
right amygdala. Additionally, it has been shown that healthy individuals with
higher state anxiety portray similar negative attentional biases and
cortico-subcortical activation patterns to those induced by HF-rTMS of the right
DLPFC. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate whether
inter-individual differences in state anxiety levels prior to the administration
of HF-rTMS of the right DLPFC might be related to the degree to which rTMS
induces such a negative attentional bias in healthy volunteers. We administered
HF-rTMS of the right DLPFC to a group of 28 healthy female individuals. In line
with previous research, a single session of HF-rTMS of the right DLPFC induced an
attentional bias towards threatening information. Moreover, self-report measures
of state anxiety (STAI-State) prior to stimulation correlated positively with the
magnitude of the induced attentional bias. More specifically, we found that
healthy individuals who scored higher on self-reports of state anxiety acquired
more attentional bias towards negative information after HF-rTMS. Therefore, the
effects of a single placebo-controlled rTMS session of the right DLPFC is
consistent with the effects of a disrupted prefrontal-amygdala circuitry. The
effects on attentional bias are largest in those participants reporting higher
state anxiety scores, possibly because underlying amygdala activation is highest.
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Langue : ANGLAIS