Evaluating the role of prefrontal and parietal cortices in memory-guided response with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) plays an important role in working memory, including the control of memory-guided response. In this study, with 24 subjects, we used high frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to evaluate the role of the dlPFC in memory-guided response to two different types of spatial working memory tasks: one requiring a recognition decision about a probe stimulus (operationalized with a yes/no button press), another requiring direct recall of the memory stimulus by moving a cursor to the remembered location. In half the trials, randomly distributed, rTMS was applied to the dlPFC and in a separate session, the superior parietal lobule (SPL), a brain area implicated in spatial working memory storage. A 10-Hz (3 s, 110% of motor threshold) train of TMS was delivered at the onset of the response period. We found that only dlPFC rTMS significantly affected performance, with rTMS of right dlPFC decreasing accuracy on delayed-recall trials, and rTMS of left and right dlPFC decreasing and enhancing accuracy, respectively, on delayed-recognition trials. These findings confirm that the dlPFC plays an important role in memory-guided response, and suggest that the nature of this role varies depending on the processes required for making a response.