A causal role of the right inferior frontal cortex in implementing strategies for multi-component behaviour.

Abstract

Everyday activities, such as, for example, driving a car or preparing a meal, require the hierarchical organization and processing of several individual actions. Currently, the neural mechanisms underlying the control of action sequences are not well understood. Here, the authors demonstrate that the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) plays a key role in implementing the strategy used to cascade different actions. Continuous theta burst stimulation (TBS) applied to the rIFG results in a less efficient action cascading strategy, whereas intermittent TBS results in a more efficient strategy, compared with a shamTBS control condition. These effects are confirmed in electrophysiological data showing that activity differences in the rIFG are related to alterations in response selection processes. Overall, these results suggest that the neural dynamics of the rIFG determine the strategy used during some forms of everyday multi-component behaviour.