Cathodal HD-tDCS above the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex increases environmentally sustainable decision-making.
Front Hum Neurosci
; 18: 1395426, 2024.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38946792
ABSTRACT
Environmental sustainability is characterized by a conflict between short-term self-interest and longer-term collective interests. Self-control capacity has been proposed to be a crucial determinant of people's ability to overcome this conflict. Yet, causal evidence is lacking, and previous research is dominated by the use of self-report measures. Here, we modulated self-control capacity by applying inhibitory high-definition transcranial current stimulation (HD-tDCS) above the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) while participants engaged in an environmentally consequential decision-making task. The task includes conflicting and low conflicting trade-offs between short-term personal interests and long-term environmental benefits. Contrary to our preregistered expectation, inhibitory HD-tDCS above the left dlPFC, presumably by reducing self-control capacity, led to more, and not less, pro-environmental behavior in conflicting decisions. We speculate that in our exceptionally environmentally friendly sample, deviating from an environmentally sustainable default required self-control capacity, and that inhibiting the left dlPFC might have reduced participants' ability to do so.
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Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article