The right temporoparietal junction enables delay of gratification by allowing decision makers to focus on future events

Abstract

Studies of neural processes underlying delay of gratification usually focus on prefrontal networks related to curbing affective impulses. Here, we provide evidence for an alternative mechanism that facilitates delaying gratification by mental orientation towards the future. Combining continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) with functional neuroimaging, we tested how the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) facilitates processing of future events and thereby promotes delay of gratification. Participants performed an intertemporal decision task and a mental time-travel task in the MRI scanner before and after receiving cTBS over the rTPJ or the vertex (control site). rTPJ cTBS led to both stronger temporal discounting for longer delays and reduced processing of future relative to past events in the mental time-travel task. This finding suggests that the rTPJ contributes to the ability to delay gratification by facilitating mental representation of outcomes in the future. On the neural level, rTPJ cTBS led to a reduction in the extent to which connectivity of rTPJ with striatum reflected the value of delayed rewards, indicating a role of rTPJ-striatum connectivity in constructing neural representations of future rewards. Together, our findings provide evidence that the rTPJ is an integral part of a brain network that promotes delay of gratification by facilitating mental orientation to future rewards.

Testosterone reduces generosity through cortical and subcortical mechanisms

“…Thus, in our experiment, cross talk between the TPJ and striatum may facilitate generous choice under placebo, and testosterone could suppress the incorporation of otherregarding value into the subjective value of the generous choice alternatives. This interpretation converges with the notion that TPJ causally regulates striatal activity during shifts of attention to social information or when taking the perspective of others during reward processing (32). Moreover, the anatomical connection between the TPJ and putamen also strengthens the possibility of a modulatory role of the TPJ as a "social brain" region for the reward valuation system (35).…”

The self in context: brain systems linking mental and physical health

“…Together with the vmPFC and the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), it may form a central brain system for appraisal and meaning-making 64 . The TPJ is implicated in conceptions of agency, others' intentions 248 and the bodily representation of the self 117 , and may also be important for self-projection and mental representation of future events 249 . Thus, the TPJ may have an important role in shifting perspectives across time and social agents: processes that are important for flexible and adaptive self-in-context models.…”

Multi-scale neural decoding and analysis

“…For example, striatal connectivity and central orbitofrontal activity reflecting value are respectively reduced by downregulation of the temporoparietal junction [145] or the lateral prefrontal cortex [146] with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Moreover, determining stimulation sites based on resting state connectivity can allow stimulation to affect activity in regions that are not directly accessible to TMS, by virtue of their connections with the stimulated regions [147,148].…”

“…Combining fMRI with transcranially applied electrical or magnetic brain stimulation can clarify whether the effects of stimulation on behavior arise through local effects at the stimulation site, through effects elsewhere, or through connectivity. For example, striatal connectivity and central orbitofrontal activity reflecting value are respectively reduced by downregulation of the temporoparietal junction [ 145 ] or the lateral prefrontal cortex [ 146 ] with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Moreover, determining stimulation sites based on resting state connectivity can allow stimulation to affect activity in regions that are not directly accessible to TMS, by virtue of their connections with the stimulated regions [ 147 , 148 ].…”