Teodora Vekony defense thesis - Modulating learning and memory processes by transcranial magnetic stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

The thesis focused on how transcranial magnetic stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) can modulate learning and memory functions, namely working memory and probabilistic learning processes. The three studies presented in the thesis showed that the inhibition of the left and the right DLPFC could hinder the improvement on a working memory task, while similar stimulation of the bilateral DLPFC can improve implicit probabilistic sequence learning performance. The thesis also focused on methodological issues in measuring learning and memory processes by showing that performance and competence can differ from each other.