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The right temporoparietal junction and cooperation dilemma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

S. Tei  and
J. Fujino
S. Tei*
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan Institute Of Applied Brain Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan School Of Human And Social Sciences, Tokyo International University, Saitama, Japan Medical Institute Of Developmental Disabilities Research, Showa University, Tokyo, Japan
J. Fujino
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan Medical Institute Of Developmental Disabilities Research, Showa University, Tokyo, Japan Department Of Psychiatry And Behavioral Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Cooperation is a key component of our lives. When we identify people in need, we are frequently motivated to cooperate by overcoming selfishness. However, we may also become selfish to pursue greater gains by putting ourselves at risk and exploiting others. Such cooperation dilemmas are ubiquitous in real life. Although functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have repeatedly reported the involvement of right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) in cooperation dilemmas, a causal link between the two has been rarely explored.

Objectives

To investigate a causal role of rTPJ in resolving cooperation dilemmas in ecologically valid settings.

Methods

Twenty-two healthy volunteers were examined. We combined repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) with a snowdrift cooperation dilemma game task (cross-the-traffic intersection version) wherein either cooperation or defection should be chosen. Participants and opponents jointly faced a problem at the intersection where their cooperation could diffuse the situation (stopping/avoiding a car-crash). This conflicted with a choice in the participant’s self-interest which was more rewarding, but risky (not stopping/defection). We also included explicit-cue condition that showed elderly/pregnant passengers in the opponent’s car. Furthermore, we measured participants’ empathic-traits (e.g., perspective-taking) to study personality-cooperation associations.

Results

The cooperation-ratio did not statistically differ between the sham stimulation and inhibitory continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) in both the no-cue and with-cue conditions. However, after cTBS, only in the no-cue condition, the strength of the relationship between cooperation-ratios and empathic-traits decreased significantly (p<0.05).

Conclusions

These results contribute to our understandings of rTPJ’s role in spontaneous social cognition, which may be considerably complex and require further examination.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

temporoparietal junctioncooperationtranscranial magnetic stimulationdecision making
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 64 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2021 , pp. S737
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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