TY - JOUR
T1 - Dissociating cognitive, behavioral and physiological stress-related responses through dorsolateral prefrontal cortex inhibition
AU - Era, Vanessa
AU - Carnevali, Luca
AU - Thayer, Julian F.
AU - Candidi, Matteo
AU - Ottaviani, Cristina
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Sapienza Progetti Ateneo 2017 , Italy (Prot. RM11715C7F74C683 ) and Sapienza H2020 2018 , Italy (Prot. PH1181643695DD85 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) has been implicated in the regulation of stress-related cognitive processes and physiological responses and is the principal target of noninvasive brain stimulation techniques applied to psychiatric conditions. However, existing studies are mostly correlational and causal evidence on the role of this region in mediating specific psychophysiological mechanisms underpinning stress-related responses are needed to make the application of such techniques more efficient. To fill this gap, this study used inhibitory continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) in healthy individuals to examine the extent to which activity of the left dlPFC is associated with cognitive (subjective focus on a tracking task), behavioral (reaction times and variability), and physiological responses (heart rate and its variability and cortisol level) following induction of perseverative cognition. Compared to sham and left ventral PreMotor area stimulation (as active control area), inhibition of left dlPFC determined sustained autonomic and neuroendocrine activation and increased the subjective perception of being task-focused, while not changing the behavioral and self-reported stress-related responses. Adopting a causative approach, we describe a role of left dlPFC in inhibitory control of the physiological stress-response associated to perseverative thinking.
AB - The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) has been implicated in the regulation of stress-related cognitive processes and physiological responses and is the principal target of noninvasive brain stimulation techniques applied to psychiatric conditions. However, existing studies are mostly correlational and causal evidence on the role of this region in mediating specific psychophysiological mechanisms underpinning stress-related responses are needed to make the application of such techniques more efficient. To fill this gap, this study used inhibitory continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) in healthy individuals to examine the extent to which activity of the left dlPFC is associated with cognitive (subjective focus on a tracking task), behavioral (reaction times and variability), and physiological responses (heart rate and its variability and cortisol level) following induction of perseverative cognition. Compared to sham and left ventral PreMotor area stimulation (as active control area), inhibition of left dlPFC determined sustained autonomic and neuroendocrine activation and increased the subjective perception of being task-focused, while not changing the behavioral and self-reported stress-related responses. Adopting a causative approach, we describe a role of left dlPFC in inhibitory control of the physiological stress-response associated to perseverative thinking.
KW - Cortisol
KW - Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
KW - Heart rate variability
KW - High-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation
KW - Perseverative cognition
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U2 - 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.105070
DO - 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.105070
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85097707641
VL - 124
JO - Psychoneuroendocrinology
JF - Psychoneuroendocrinology
SN - 0306-4530
M1 - 105070
ER -