Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 30, 2025
Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
Published on: September 28, 2018
Does intermittent theta burst stimulation improve working memory capacity? A randomized controlled cross-over
Yali Feng1, Jack Jiaqi Zhang2, Jiaqi Zhu1
1Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
Objective:
It has been hypothesized that intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) can produce a memory-enhancing effect by inducing long-term potentiation (LTP)-like plasticity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). However, the hemispheric difference by which iTBS modulates working memory in healthy adults has not been well investigated. The objective of the present study is to investigate the effects of iTBS on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LDLPFC) and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (RDLPFC) on working memory performance in healthy adults.
Methods:
In this randomized cross-over experiment, 31 right-hand dominant healthy adults received a single-session of iTBS to their LDLPFC, RDLPFC and sham stimulation, in three different visits separated by a seven-day waiting period. Working memory capacity was assessed before and immediately after stimulation, by using 2-and 3-back tasks.
Results:
After stimulation, significant time effects were found in overall accuracy when performing both 2- (p = 0.013) and 3-back tasks (p = 0.027), as well as the total reaction time during 3-back tasks (p = 0.021). Analysis of secondary outcomes showed an increase in the number of correction rejections in 2-back tasks (p = 0.009). However, all of the time-by-group interaction effects were not significant.
Conclusion:
This experiment did not find any additional memory-enhancing effects with a single-session of iTBS to either the RDLPFC or the LDLPFC in healthy adults beyond the practice effects.
