Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation is a potential treatment option for depression, with the newer intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) protocols providing brief intervention. However, their mechanism of action remains unclear. We investigated the hypothesis that iTBS influences brain circuits involved in emotion processing that are also affected by antidepressants. We predicted that iTBS would lead to changes in performance on emotion-processing tasks. We investigated the effects of intermittent TBS (iTBS) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on the processing of emotional information (word recall and categorization, facial emotion recognition, and decision-making) in 28 healthy volunteers by contrasting these effects with those of sham stimulation. Each volunteer received iTBS and sham stimulation in a blinded crossover design and completed the emotion-processing tasks before and after stimulation. Compared to sham stimulation, iTBS increased positive affective processing for word recall, yet had an unexpected effect on facial emotion recognition for happy and sad faces. There was no evidence of an effect on decision-making or word categorization. We found support for our hypothesis that iTBS influences emotion processing, though some changes were not in the expected direction. These findings suggest a possible common mechanism of action between iTBS and antidepressants, and a complex neural circuitry involved in emotion processing that could potentially be tapped into via brain stimulation. Future research should investigate the neural correlates of emotion processing more closely to inform future iTBS protocols.

重复经颅磁刺激是抑郁症的一种潜在治疗选择，较新的间歇性 theta-burst 刺激 (iTBS) 方案提供了短暂的干预。然而，它们的作用机制仍不清楚。我们调查了 iTBS 影响参与情绪处理的大脑回路的假设，这些回路也受抗抑郁药的影响。我们预测 iTBS 会导致情绪处理任务的性能发生变化。我们通过将这些影响与那些影响进行对比，调查了 28 名健康志愿者在左侧背外侧前额叶皮层 (DLPFC) 上的间歇性 TBS (iTBS) 对情绪信息处理（单词回忆和分类、面部情绪识别和决策）的影响。的假刺激。每个志愿者在盲交叉设计中接受 iTBS 和假刺激，并在刺激前后完成情绪处理任务。与假刺激相比，iTBS 增加了单词回忆的积极情感处理，但对快乐和悲伤面孔的面部情绪识别具有意想不到的效果。没有证据表明对决策或单词分类有影响。我们发现支持我们的假设，即 iTBS 影响情绪处理，尽管一些变化不在预期的方向。这些发现表明 iTBS 和抗抑郁药之间可能存在共同的作用机制，以及参与情绪处理的复杂神经回路，可能通过大脑刺激进入。