Mentalizing with the future: Electrical stimulation of the right TPJ increases sustainable decision-making.

While many people acknowledge the urgency to drastically change our consumption patterns to mitigate climate change, most people fail to live sustainably. We hypothesized that a lack of sustainability stems from insufficient intergenerational mentalizing (i.e., taking the perspective of people in the future). To causally test our hypothesis, we applied high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) to the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). We tested participants twice (receiving stimulation at the TPJ or the vertex as control), while they engaged in a behavioral economic paradigm measuring sustainable decision-making, even if sustainability was costly. Indeed, excitatory anodal HD-tDCS increased sustainable decision-making, while inhibitory cathodal HD-tDCS had no effect. These finding cannot be explained by changes in participants' fairness norms or their estimation of how other people would behave. Shedding light on the neural basis of sustainability, our results could inspire targeted interventions tackling the TPJ and give neuroscientific support to theories on how to construct public campaigns addressing sustainability issues.

The Cone of Direct Gaze: A Stable Trait.

Direct eye gaze is a potent stimulus in social interactions and is often associated with interest and approach orientation. Yet, there is remarkable variability in the range of gaze lines that people accept as being direct. A measure that is frequently used to quantify the range of gaze angles within which an observer assumes mutual gaze is the cone of direct gaze (CoDG). While individual differences in CoDG have often been examined, studies that systematically investigate the stability of an observers' CoDG over time are scarce. In two experiments, we measured the CoDG using an established paradigm and repeated the measurement after 5 min and/or after 1 week. We found high inter-individual variation, but high agreement within participants (ICCs between 0.649 and 0.855). We conclude that the CoDG can be seen as a rather stable measure, much like a personality trait.

Anodal High-definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over the Posterior Parietal Cortex Modulates Approximate Mental Arithmetic.

The representation and processing of numerosity is a crucial cognitive capacity. Converging evidence points to the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) as primary "number" region. However, the exact role of the left and right PPC for different types of numerical and arithmetic tasks remains controversial. In this study, we used high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) to further investigate the causal involvement of the PPC during approximative, nonsymbolic mental arithmetic. Eighteen healthy participants received three sessions of anodal HD-tDCS at 1-week intervals in counterbalanced order: left PPC, right PPC, and sham stimulation. Results showed an improved performance during online parietal HD-tDCS (vs. sham) for subtraction problems. Specifically, the general tendency to underestimate the results of subtraction problems (i.e., the "operational momentum effect") was reduced during online parietal HD-tDCS. There was no difference between left and right stimulation. This study thus provides new evidence for a causal involvement of the left and right PPC for approximate nonsymbolic arithmetic and advances the promising use of noninvasive brain stimulation in increasing cognitive functions.

High Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Does Not Modulate Implicit Task Sequence Learning and Consolidation.

The incidental acquisition of a succession of tasks is termed implicit task sequence learning. Patients with dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) lesions are strongly impaired in this ability. However, recent results of conventional transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) above the prefrontal cortex showed no modulation of implicit task sequence learning and consolidation. One explanation for these null findings is that conventional tDCS has non-focal effects on the cortex. Thus, the aim of the present study was to use a focal type of tDCS, namely high definition tDCS (HD-tDCS), to influence implicit task sequence learning and consolidation. Participants received stimulation during implicit task sequence learning and, 24 h later, consolidation was measured. The results showed that sequence learning was present in all conditions and sessions. Furthermore, consolidation was robust. However, both sequence learning and consolidation were not modulated by stimulation. Thus, this study corroborates previous findings by showing that even focal HD-tDCS is not sufficient to modulate implicit task sequence learning and consolidation.

No effects of transcranial DLPFC stimulation on implicit task sequence learning and consolidation.

Neurostimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) can modulate performance in cognitive tasks. In a recent study, however, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the DLPFC did not affect implicit task sequence learning and consolidation in a paradigm that involved bimanual responses. Because bimanual performance increases the coupling between homologous cortical areas of the hemispheres and left and right DLPFC were stimulated separately the null findings may have been due to the bimanual setup. The aim of the present study was to test the effect of neuro-stimulation on sequence learning in a uni-manual setup. For this purpose two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, the DLPFC was stimulated with tDCS. In Experiment 2 the DLPFC was stimulated with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). In both experiments, consolidation was measured 24 hours later. The results showed that sequence learning was present in all conditions and sessions, but it was not influenced by stimulation. Likewise, consolidation of sequence learning was robust across sessions, but it was not influenced by stimulation. These results replicate and extend previous findings. They indicate that established tDCS and TMS protocols on the DLPFC do not influence implicit task sequence learning and consolidation.

A single session of prefrontal cortex transcranial direct current stimulation does not modulate implicit task sequence learning and consolidation.

BACKGROUND: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is assumed to affect cortical excitability and dependent on the specific stimulation conditions either to increase or decrease learning. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to modulate implicit task sequence learning with tDCS. METHODS: As cortico-striatal loops are critically involved in implicit task sequence learning, tDCS was applied above the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). In Experiment 1, anodal, cathodal, or sham tDCS was applied before the start of the sequence learning task. In Experiment 2, stimulation was applied during the sequence learning task. Consolidation of learning was assessed after 24 h. RESULTS: The results of both experiments showed that implicit task sequence learning occurred consistently but it was not modulated by different tDCS conditions. Similarly, consolidation measured after a 24 h-interval including sleep was also not affected by stimulation. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that a single session of DLPFC tDCS is not sufficient to modulate implicit task sequence learning. This study adds to the accumulating evidence that tDCS may not be as effective as originally thought.

How Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Can Modulate Implicit Motor Sequence Learning and Consolidation: A Brief Review.

The purpose of this review is to investigate how transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can modulate implicit motor sequence learning and consolidation. So far, most of the studies have focused on the modulating effect of tDCS for explicit motor learning. Here, we focus explicitly on implicit motor sequence learning and consolidation in order to improve our understanding about the potential of tDCS to affect this kind of unconscious learning. Specifically, we concentrate on studies with the serial reaction time task (SRTT), the classical paradigm for measuring implicit motor sequence learning. The influence of tDCS has been investigated for the primary motor cortex, the premotor cortex, the prefrontal cortex, and the cerebellum. The results indicate that tDCS above the primary motor cortex gives raise to the most consistent modulating effects for both implicit motor sequence learning and consolidation.