The Use of Transcranial Magnetic Brain Stimulation to Study Cerebellar Language Function

Beaton, Alan A.; Allen-Walker, Louise; Bracewell, R. Martyn

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-801608-4.00014-1

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“…functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, fMRI techniques [ 23 , 24 ] and Positron Emission Tomography, PET [ 25 ]), functional connectivity [ 26 – 28 ] and neurostimulation techniques such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS; see Argyropoulos [ 29 ] for a review), which has recently been combined with fMRI to examine the role of the cerebellum in semantic prediction and how this affects activation in the cerebrum [ 30 ]. In particular, researchers have used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to investigate the role of the cerebellum in predictive or associative priming (for a review, see Beaton, Allen-Walker and Bracewell [ 31 ]). Some authors suggest that single-pulse TMS activates the inhibitory Purkinje cells, leading to inhibition of the disynaptic dentato-thalamo-cortical facilitatory connections, which, in turn, leads to inhibition of the primary motor areas and prefrontal cortex in the contralateral cerebral hemisphere [ 32 – 34 ].…”

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confidence: 99%

Facilitation of Fast Backward Priming After Left Cerebellar Continuous Theta-Burst Stimulation

et al. 2017

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Traditional theories of backward priming account only for the priming effects found at long stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). Here, we suggest that the presence of backward priming at short SOAs may be related to the integrative role of the cerebellum. Previous research has shown that the right cerebellum is involved in forward associative priming. Functional magnetic resonance imaging reveals some activation of the left cerebellar hemisphere during backward priming; but what this activation represents is unclear. Here we explore this issue using continuous theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (cTBS) and associative priming in a lexical decision task. We tested the hypothesis that the left cerebellum plays a role in backward priming and that this is dissociated from the role of the right cerebellum in forward priming. Before and after cTBS was applied to their left and right cerebellar hemispheres, participants completed a lexical decision task. Although we did not replicate the forward priming effect reported in the literature, we did find a significant increase in backward priming after left relative to right cerebellar cTBS. We consider how theories of cerebellar function in the motor domain can be extended to language and cognitive models of backward priming.

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