ArticleFrontiers in neuroscience2019
Cortical Excitability Dynamics During Fear Processing.
Article in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Directional flow of brain connections and neurodevelopmental outcomes in healthy full-term newborns.Neuroscience letters · 2025Article
- State-Dependent Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Synchronized with Electroencephalography: Mechanisms, Applications, and Future Directions.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Altered cortical synaptic lipid signaling leads to intermediate phenotypes of mental disorders.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Article
- Modular segregation drives causality of the dynamic oscillatory network responses during threat processing.Brain communications · 2023Article
- Network alterations underlying anxiety symptoms in early multiple sclerosis.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2022Article
- Inhibitory and excitatory responses in the dorso-medial prefrontal cortex during threat processing.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLittle is known about the modulation of cortical excitability in the prefrontal cortex during fear processing in humans. Here, we aimed to transiently modulate and test the cortical excitability during fear processing using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and brain oscillations in theta and alpha frequency bands with electroencephalography (EEG).
methodsWe conducted two separate experiments (no-TMS and TMS). In the no-TMS experiment, EEG recordings were performed during the instructed fear paradigm in which a visual cue (CS+) was paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (electric shock), while the other visual cue was unpaired (CS-). In the TMS experiment, in addition the TMS was applied on the right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC). The participants also underwent structural MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanning and were assigned pseudo-randomly to both experiments, such that age and gender were matched. The cortical excitability was evaluated by time-frequency analysis and functional connectivity with weighted phase lag index (WPLI). We further linked the excitability patterns with markers of stress coping capability.
resultsAfter visual cue onset, we found increased theta power in the frontal lobe and decreased alpha power in the occipital lobe during CS+ relative to CS- trials. TMS of dmPFC increased theta power in the frontal lobe and reduced alpha power in the occipital lobe during CS+. The TMS pulse increased the information flow from the sensorimotor region to the prefrontal and occipital regions in the theta and alpha bands, respectively during CS+ compared to CS-. Pre-stimulation frontal theta power (0.75-1 s) predicted the magnitude of frontal theta power changes after stimulation (1-1.25 s). Finally, the increased frontal theta power during CS+ compared to CS- was positively correlated with stress coping behavior.
conclusionOur results show that TMS over dmPFC transiently modulated the regional cortical excitability and the fronto-occipital information flows during fear processing, while the pre-stimulation frontal theta power determined the strength of achieved effects. The frontal theta power may serve as a biomarker for fear processing and stress-coping responses in individuals and could be clinically tested in mental disorders.
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