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

PLoS Biol. 2020 Aug 10;18(8):e3000800. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000800. eCollection 2020 Aug.

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 events in the mental time-travel task. This finding suggests that the rTPJ contributes to the ability to delay gratification by facilitating mental representation of outcomes in the future. On the neural level, rTPJ cTBS led to a reduction in the extent to which connectivity of rTPJ with striatum reflected the value of delayed rewards, indicating a role of rTPJ-striatum connectivity in constructing neural representations of future rewards. Together, our findings provide evidence that the rTPJ is an integral part of a brain network that promotes delay of gratification by facilitating mental orientation to future rewards.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Brain Mapping
  • Corpus Striatum / anatomy & histology
  • Corpus Striatum / diagnostic imaging
  • Corpus Striatum / physiology*
  • Decision Making / physiology*
  • Delay Discounting / physiology*
  • Female
  • Functional Neuroimaging
  • Humans
  • Impulsive Behavior / physiology
  • Male
  • Nerve Net / anatomy & histology
  • Nerve Net / diagnostic imaging
  • Nerve Net / physiology*
  • Parietal Lobe / anatomy & histology
  • Parietal Lobe / diagnostic imaging
  • Parietal Lobe / physiology*
  • Reward
  • Temporal Lobe / anatomy & histology
  • Temporal Lobe / diagnostic imaging
  • Temporal Lobe / physiology*
  • Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Grants and funding

PNT received funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (Grants PP00P1 150739, 100014_165884, and CRSII5_177277) and from the Velux Foundation (Grant 981). CCR received grant support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (100019L_173248) and from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 725355; ERC Consolidator Grant BRAINCODES). AS received an Emmy Noether fellowship (SO 1636/2-1) from the German Research Foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.