Using tDCS to Explore the Role of the Right Temporo-Parietal Junction in Theory of Mind and Cognitive Empathy

Mai, Xiaoqin; Zhang, Wenli; Hu, Xinmu; Zhen, Zhen; Xu, Zhenhua; Zhang, Jing; Liu, Chao

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00380

Cited by 82 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…The rTPJ is often associated with ToM or the abilitiy to understand other's experiences (Krall et al, 2015;Van Overwalle & Baetens, 2009). To date, anodal stimulation to the rTPJ has failed to affect ToM functioning in healthy adults (Martin, Huang, et al, 2017;Santiesteban, Banissy, Catmur, & Bird, 2015), although one study found reduced ToM accuracy after cathodal stimulation of the rTPJ (Mai et al, 2016). As perspective taking, especially the ability to mentally rotate into an allocentric viewpoint, is considered a prerequisite for ToM (Pearson, Ropar, & Hamilton, 2013), the results of the current study, suggest the rTPJ is causally associated with lower-order processes relevant for ToM, but not the higher-order ToM ability itself.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dissociable Roles Within the Social Brain for Self–Other Processing: A HD-tDCS Study

et al. 2018

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Theories of right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) function in social cognition include self–other distinction, self-inhibition, or embodied rotation, whereas the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) is associated with integrating social information. However, no study has provided causal evidence for dissociable roles of the rTPJ and dmPFC in social cognition. A total of 52 healthy young adults were stratified to receive either dmPFC or rTPJ anodal high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) in a sham-controlled, double-blinded, repeated measures design. Self–other processing was assessed across implicit and explicit level 1 (line-of-sight) and level 2 (mental rotation) visual perspective taking (VPT) tasks, and self–other effects on memory. DmPFC stimulation selectively increased the influence of the allocentric perspective during egocentric perspective taking, indexed by an increase in congruency effect across explicit VPT tasks. Moreover, dmPFC stimulation removed the self-reference effect in episodic memory by increasing the recognition of other and decreasing the recognition of self-encoded words. Stimulation of the rTPJ resulted in improved inhibition of the egocentric-perspective during level 2 VPT only, indexed by a reduction of the congruency effect when taking the allocentric perspective. This research supports theories suggesting that the rTPJ facilitates embodied mental rotation of the self into an alternate perspective, whereas the dmPFC integrates social information relevant to self-directed processes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dissociable Roles Within the Social Brain for Self–Other Processing: A HD-tDCS Study

et al. 2018

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“…Though the impacts of varying protocols are complex (Horvath et al ., ), anodal tDCS generally promotes depolarisation of resting membrane potentials in underlying cortical tissue (increasing rates of neuronal firing), while cathodal tDCS is understood to increase hyperpolarisation and reduce firing rates (Nitsche et al ., ). tDCS studies suggest TPJ modulation can influence performance in tasks involving mentalising (or related constructs such as moral reasoning, cognitive empathy, visual perspective taking, imitation inhibition, humour appreciation, lie detection, vicarious experience and integrating top‐down and bottom‐up attention) (Santiesteban et al ., ; Sellaro et al ., ; Slaby et al ., ; Sowden et al ., ; Wu et al ., ; Ye et al ., ; Leloup et al ., ; Mai et al ., ; Vandenbroucke et al ., ). This study also improves on prior methodologies using high‐definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD‐tDCS) rather than standard tDCS.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autism‐relevant traits interact with temporoparietal junction stimulation effects on social cognition: a high‐definition transcranial direct current stimulation and electroencephalography study

Donaldson

Kirkovski

Rinehart

et al. 2017

Eur J of Neuroscience

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The temporoparietal junction (TPJ) is implicated in mental and emotional state attribution, processes associated with autism-relevant traits. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the TPJ can influence social-cognitive performance. However, associations with electrophysiology and autism-relevant traits remain relatively unexamined. This study had two aims: first, exploring links between Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) scores and social-cognitive performance; second, examining interactions between AQ scores and high-definition-tDCS (HD-tDCS) applied to the right TPJ in terms of mental/emotional state attribution and neurophysiological outcomes. Fifty-three participants completed mental/emotional state attribution tasks before and after HD-tDCS. Pre-stimulation mental state attribution accuracy was reduced in participants with higher AQ Switching scores. Cathodal stimulation was associated with reduced emotion attribution performance in participants with higher AQ Switching and AQ Social scores (the latter at trend-level). Anodal stimulation more frequently interacted with AQ Social scores in terms of neurophysiology, in particular regarding reduced delta power in the left compared to right TPJ, and trend-level positive interactions with P100 and P300 latencies during the emotion recognition task. Elements of attention/switching (AQ Switching) may subserve or underpin elements of social cognition (AQ Social), and cathodal and anodal stimulation may have differing effects depending on trait levels in these domains. This study makes an important and original contribution in terms of increasing understanding of how such trait-level variation might interact with the effects of tDCS and also extending previous studies with regard to understanding potential roles of the rTPJ in both attention and social cognition and how autism-relevant traits might influence TPJ function.

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“…The rTPJ is often associated with ToM or the abilitiy to understand other's experiences (Krall et al, 2015;Van Overwalle & Baetens, 2009). To date, anodal stimulation to the rTPJ has failed to affect ToM in healthy adults (Martin, Huang, et al, 2017;Santiesteban, Banissy, Catmur, & Bird, 2015) although one study found reduced ToM accuracy after cathodal stimulation of the rTPJ (Mai et al, 2016). As perspective taking, especially the ability to mentally rotate into an allocentric viewpoint, is considered a prerequisite for ToM (Pearson, Ropar, & Hamilton, 2013), the results of the current study, suggest the rTPJ may primarily be involved in lower--order processes relevant for ToM, but not the higher--order ToM ability itself.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dissociable roles for the rTPJ and dmPFC in self-other processing: a HD-tDCS study

Martin

Huang

Meinzer

2018

Preprint

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Background: Social interaction relies on the integration and distinction of self and other. The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) are two regions consistently associated with social processes. Theories of rTPJ function in social cognition include self--other distinction, self--inhibition, or embodied mental rotation, whereas the dmPFC is associated with a wide range of social functions involving understanding and encoding information pertaining to others. However, to date, no study has provided causal evidence for dissociable roles of the rTPJ and dmPFC in social cognition. Method: 52 healthy young adults were stratified into two studies and received either dmPFC or rTPJ anodal HD--tDCS in a sham--controlled, double--blinded, repeated measures design. Subjects completed a social cognitive battery measuring self--other processing across an implicit and explicit level one (line--of--sight) and level two (mental rotation) visual perspective taking tasks (VPT), as well as self and other encoding effects on episodic memory in order to test the self--reference effect (SRE). Results: Stimulation of the dmPFC selectively enhanced integration of the other perspective into self as indexed by an increase in congruency effect (incongruent--congruent) across both explicit VPT tasks. It also removed the SRE in episodic memory, indexed by increasing the recognition of other--encoded words and reducing the recognition of self--encoded words. Stimulation of the rTPJ resulted in improved inhibition of the self--perspective during level two VPT only, as indexed by a reduction of the congruency effect when taking the other perspective. Conclusion: Our results provide the first causal evidence for dissociable roles of the dmPFC and rTPJ in social cognition. This research supports theories suggesting that rTPJ facilitates embodied mental rotation, whereas the dmPFC integrates information relevant to the other into that of the self.

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Using tDCS to Explore the Role of the Right Temporo-Parietal Junction in Theory of Mind and Cognitive Empathy

Cited by 82 publications

References 38 publications

Dissociable Roles Within the Social Brain for Self–Other Processing: A HD-tDCS Study

Dissociable Roles Within the Social Brain for Self–Other Processing: A HD-tDCS Study

Autism‐relevant traits interact with temporoparietal junction stimulation effects on social cognition: a high‐definition transcranial direct current stimulation and electroencephalography study

Dissociable roles for the rTPJ and dmPFC in self-other processing: a HD-tDCS study

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