The right temporoparietal junction enables delay of gratification by allowing decision makers to focus on future events.

ABSTRACT: Studies of neural processes underlying delay of gratification usually focus on prefrontal networks related to curbing affective impulses. Here, we provide evidence for an alternative mechanism that facilitates delaying gratification by mental orientation towards the future. Combining continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) with functional neuroimaging, we tested how the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) facilitates processing of future events and thereby promotes delay of gratification. Participants performed an intertemporal decision task and a mental time-travel task in the MRI scanner before and after receiving cTBS over the rTPJ or the vertex (control site). rTPJ cTBS led to both stronger temporal discounting for longer delays and reduced processing of future relative to past eve

SUBMITTER: Soutschek A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7447039 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature