Functional lateralization of temporoparietal junction – imitation inhibition, visual perspective‐taking and theory of mind
Abstract
Although neuroimaging studies have consistently identified the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) as a key brain region involved in social cognition, the literature is far from consistent with respect to lateralization of function. For example, during theory‐of‐mind tasks bilateral TPJ activation is found in some studies but only right hemisphere activation in others. Visual perspective‐taking and imitation inhibition, which have been argued to recruit the same socio‐cognitive processes as theory of mind, are associated with unilateral activation of either left TPJ (perspective taking) or right TPJ (imitation inhibition). The present study investigated the functional lateralization of TPJ involvement in the above three socio‐cognitive abilities using transcranial direct current stimulation. Three groups of healthy adults received anodal stimulation over right TPJ, left TPJ or the occipital cortex prior to performing three tasks (imitation inhibition, visual perspective‐taking and theory of mind). In contrast to the extant neuroimaging literature, our results suggest bilateral TPJ involvement in imitation inhibition and visual perspective‐taking, while no effect of anodal stimulation was observed on theory of mind. The discrepancy between these findings and those obtained using neuroimaging highlight the efficacy of neurostimulation as a complementary methodological tool in cognitive neuroscience.
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Neurostimulation studies have implicated the rTPJ in imitation control.
“For instance, neurostimulation studies have implicated rTPJ in imitation control (Santiesteban et al., 2015;Bardi et al., 2017).”
From The inhibition of automatic imitation: a meta-analysis and synthesis of fMRI studies (2018) · cites this paper as Santiesteban et al., 2015
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Social cognition and the brain: A meta-analysis
Van Overwalle, F. (2009) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.20547 · Cited by 1,792 · cited 3× · see citing works
“Results of the latter study are interesting as anodal stimulation of RTPJ did not affect ToM despite the abundant evidence derived from neuroimaging studies of the role of RTPJ in ToM (see metaanalysis by Van Overwalle, 2009).”
BackgroundResultThe Neural Bases of Social Cognition and Story Comprehension
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Activity in Right Temporo-Parietal Junction is Not Selective for Theory-of-Mind
Mitchell, J. P. (2008) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhm051 · Cited by 469 · cited 2× · see citing works
“cessing itself, but may instead reflect processing which is reliably associated with, but not exclusive to, ToM (see Corbetta et al., 2008; Mitchell, 2008).”
BackgroundInhibition of imitative behaviour and social cognition
Brass, M., Ruby, P., & Spengler, S. (2009) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2009.0066 · Cited by 347 · see citing works
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Darda, K. M., Butler, E. E., & Ramsey, R. (2018) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn_a_01261 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
“temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) operates during the inhibition of imitation (Brass et al., 2001; 2003; Klapper et al., 2014; Spengler et al., 2009; 2010; Santiesteban et al., 2012; Wang et al., 2011; Hogeveen et al., 2014; Santiesteban et al., 2015; Sowden & Catmur, 2015; Bardi et al., 2017).”
BackgroundNon-invasive stimulation of the social brain: the methodological challenges
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- Authors
- Santiesteban, I., Banissy, M. J., Catmur, C., & Bird, G.
- Affiliations
- Birkbeck, University of London (GB)
- University College London (GB)
- University of Surrey (GB)
- King's College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Santiesteban, Idalmis
- Venue
- European Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2015-08-28
- Volume
- 42
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 2527-2533
- ISSN
- 0953-816X (ISSN-L)
- 1460-9568
- OpenAlex
- W1901471264
- Cited by
- 107
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 18.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- European Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Goldsmiths (University of London) (acceptedVersion)
- Surrey Research Insight Open Access (The University of Surrey) (submittedVersion)
- BIROn (Birkbeck, University of London) (submittedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
- University of Birmingham Research Portal (University of Birmingham) (submittedVersion)
- Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Economic and Social Research Council (ES/H013504/1, ES/K00882X/1, ES/K00140X/1)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Studies
- Keywords
- temporoparietal junction, functional lateralization, visual perspective taking, theory of mind, social cognition, transcranial direct current stimulation, anodal stimulation, hemispheric lateralization
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Female, Humans, Imitative Behavior, Inhibition, Psychological, Functional Laterality, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Parietal Lobe, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Social Behavior, Temporal Lobe, Visual Perception, Young Adult, Theory of Mind, Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
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