Temporo-Parietal Junction modulates self-other motor representations during on-line and off-line social motor conflict: an rTMS study

Abstract

The temporal-parietal junction (TPJ) is a brain area implicated in social cognition, attention, integrating body-related information and self-processing. We investigated involvement of both the left and the right TPJ in a complex social cognitive task that required attributing intentions to other people. Fourteen healthy subjects participated in experiments that involved simulating interactions with other people in everyday conflicting situations. The task was performed following application of inhibitory trains of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to the right and the left TPJ and to a control occipital brain site. Results showed a different pattern of involvement for the left and the right TPJ in judgements related to social interactions. When rTMS was applied to the right TPJ, attribution of hostile intentionality to the other increased and the tendency to interpret others’ behaviour in terms of non-hostile intentionality decreased. By contrast, rTMS of the left TPJ tended to produce the opposite pattern, that is, attribution of non-hostile intentionality.