An extended neural network is known to underlie extinction learning. As yet, comparatively little is known about the possible contribution of the cerebellum and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). In the present study, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) was used to provide further evidence that the dlPFC and the cerebellum are involved in extinction-related processes. A total of 100 young and healthy human participants were randomly assigned to one of five stimulation groups: (1) anodal tDCS of the cerebellum, (2) cathodal tDCS of the cerebellum, (3) anodal tDCS of the dlPFC, (4) cathodal tDCS of the dlPFC, and (5) sham stimulation. Participants underwent delay eyeblink conditioning using an A-B-A/B renewal paradigm. Two different colors of background light (orange and blue) were used as contexts. On day 1, acquisition of conditioned eyeblink responses was performed in context A, followed by extinction in context B. tDCS was applied during extinction. On day 2, extinction recall was tested in contexts A and B with higher incidence of conditioned responses in acquisition context A compared to extinction context B indicating renewal effects. All groups showed significant effects of acquisition of conditioned eyeblink responses and significant effects of extinction. There was no significant difference in extinction between stimulation groups. During extinction recall, renewal effects were present in all groups, except the group which had received anodal tDCS of the dlPFC during extinction. In the present study, no direct effects of dlPFC or cerebellar tDCS were demonstrated on extinction. Anodal tDCS of the dlPFC, but not the cerebellum, resulted in delayed effects on context-related processes of extinction, possibly explained by shifting attention away from the context and towards the conditioned stimulus during extinction learning. Anodal tDCS of the dlPFC attenuated context-related recall of learned aversive responses. Effects of tDCS, however, were weak and need to be confirmed in future studies. Lack of cerebellar tDCS effects do not exclude a possible role of the cerebellum in extinction-related processes, and are likely explained by methodological limitations of cerebellar tDCS.

中文翻译：

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前额叶而不是小脑tDCS减弱了熄灭的条件性眨眼反应的更新。

众所周知，扩展的神经网络是灭绝学习的基础。迄今为止，关于小脑和背外侧前额叶皮层（dlPFC）的可能贡献还知之甚少。在本研究中，经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）用于提供进一步的证据，证明dlPFC和小脑参与了与灭绝有关的过程。将总共​​100名年轻健康的参与者随机分为五个刺激组之一：（1）小脑的阳极tDCS，（2）小脑的阴极tDCS，（3）dlPFC的阳极tDCS，（4）阴极dlPFC的tDCS，以及（5）假刺激。参加者使用ABA / B更新范例进行延迟眨眼调节。使用两种不同颜色的背景光（橙色和蓝色）作为背景。在第1天，在背景A中进行条件性眨眼反应的获取，然后在背景B中消光。在消光过程中应用tDCS。在第2天，在情境A和B中测试了灭绝召回，在获取情境A中条件性反应的发生率高于灭绝情境B，表明更新效果。所有组均显示出获得条件性眨眼反应的显着效果和灭绝的显着效果。刺激组之间的灭绝没有显着差异。在灭绝召回期间，除在灭绝期间接受了dlPFC的阳极tDCS的组外，所有组均具有更新效果。在本研究中，没有显示dlPFC或小脑tDCS对灭绝有直接影响。dlPFC的阳极tDCS，而不是小脑，导致对与背景相关的灭绝过程的延迟影响，这可能是由于在灭绝学习过程中将注意力从背景转移到有条件的刺激而引起的。dlPFC的阳极tDCS减弱了学习到的厌恶反应的与情境相关的回忆。然而，tDCS的作用微弱，需要在以后的研究中加以证实。小脑tDCS效应的缺乏并不排除小脑在与灭绝相关的过程中的可能作用，并且可能由小脑tDCS的方法学局限性解释。较弱，需要在以后的研究中加以证实。小脑tDCS效应的缺乏并不排除小脑在与灭绝相关的过程中的可能作用，并且可能由小脑tDCS的方法学局限性解释。较弱，需要在以后的研究中加以证实。小脑tDCS效应的缺乏并不排除小脑在与灭绝相关的过程中的可能作用，并且可能由小脑tDCS的方法学局限性解释。