Journal Article

The roles of the LpSTS and DLPFC in self‐prioritization: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study

Sui, Jie, Fu, Sinan, Wang, Fei, Liang, Qiongdan, Zhang, Bozhen

2022

Overview

The Self‐Attention Network (SAN) has been proposed to describe the underlying neural mechanism of the self‐prioritization effect, yet the roles of the key nodes in the SAN—the left posterior superior temporal sulcus (LpSTS) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)—still need to be clarified. One hundred and nine participants were randomly assigned into the LpSTS group, the DLPFC group, or the sham group. We used the transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) technique to selectively disrupt the functions of the corresponding targeted region, and observed its impacts on self‐prioritization effect based on the difference between the performance of the self‐matching task before and after the targeted stimulation. We analyzed both model‐free performance measures and HDDM‐based performance measures for the self‐matching task. The results showed that the inhibition of LpSTS could lead to reduced performance in processing self‐related stimuli, which establishes a causal role for the LpSTS in self‐related processing and provide direct evidence to support the SAN framework. However, the results of the DLPFC group from HDDM analysis were distinct from the results based on response efficiency. Our investigation further the understanding of the differentiated roles of key nodes in the SAN in supporting the self‐salience in information processing. We used the transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) technique to test the left posterior superior temporal sulcus (LpSTS) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex's (DLPFC) causal roles in the self‐prioritization effect and elaborated their influences through hierarchical drift‐diffusion modeling (HDDM). This work provides novel evidence supporting the Self‐Attention Network (SAN) account of the self‐prioritization effect and deepens our understating regarding the brain mechanism of prioritizing self‐related stimuli.

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subject: Brain research / Data processing / HDDM / Information processing / Magnetic fields / Magnetic studies / Matching / Neuropsychology / Nodes / Prefrontal cortex / self‐attention network / self‐matching task / self‐prioritization effect / Superior temporal sulcus / Temporal lobe / the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex / the left posterior superior temporal sulcus / the transcranial magnetic stimulation / Transcranial magnetic stimulation