Transcranial direct current stimulation over the right and left VLPFC leads to differential effects on working and episodic memory.

Previous research suggests that the left VLPFC is involved in working memory, whereas right VLPFC is involved with subsequent episodic memory. High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS) was used to test whether excitation of the left or right VLPFC would show differential effects of negative and neutral stimuli on working memory and episodic memory tasks. While receiving HD-tDCS over the left or right VLPFC or sham stimulation, participants completed a working memory task with negative and neutral distractors followed by a surprise recognition test for the distractors.

The role of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in emotional enhancement of memory: A TMS study.

Negative stimuli are often remembered better than neutral stimuli, which is called the emotional enhancement of memory (EEM). We tested whether the role of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) in the EEM depended on stimulus valence and/or arousal, and attentional resources. Continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) was applied over the left VLPFC, right VLPFC and vertex before encoding 'negative arousing,' 'negative nonarousing,' and 'neutral' words under full and divided attention, followed by a recognition test.