Increased neural activity of right temporo-parietal junction causes different effect on altruism in situations of advantageous and disadvantageous inequity

Brain Cogn. 2023 Jul 12;171:106061. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2023.106061. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTAltruism is defined as the performance of "costly acts that confer economic benefits on other individuals", which is one of the major puzzles in the behavioural sciences today. Altruistic behaviour not only facilitates interpersonal adaptation and harmony but also enhances social welfare and social responsibility. The right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ) has been proposed as playing a key role in guiding human altruistic behaviour, but its precise functional contribution to altruistic behaviour in situations of advantageous and disadvantageous inequity remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to modulate the activation of the rTPJ through transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in order to clarify the causal role of the rTPJ in altruistic behaviour in situations of advantageous and disadvantageous inequity. A total of 106 participants were randomly assigned to one of three stimulation conditions: anodal tDCS stimulation on the rTPJ; sham tDCS stimulation on the rTPJ and anodal tDCS stimulation on the primary visual cortex (VC)as the control group, and. After 20 min of stimulation, participants undertook a modified dictator game that measured altruistic behaviour. Mixed-effect logistic regressions were applied to statistical analyses in this study. The results indicated that anodal tDCS over the rTPJ increased participants' altruistic tendency by increasing their ...

Source: Brain and Cognition - July 14, 2023 Category: Neurology Authors: Shijing Wu Shenggang Cai Yingxiao Li Guanxing Xiong Hanqi Zhang Source Type: research