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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 18, 2026

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses

Published on: September 28, 2018

Selectively altering belief formation in the human brain.

Tali Sharot¹, Ryota Kanai, David Marston

¹Department of Cognitive, Perceptual, and Brain Sciences, University College London, London WC1 H0AP, United Kingdom. t.sharot@ucl.ac.uk

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|September 27, 2012

Summary

People tend to favor good news over bad news, impacting decisions. Disrupting the left inferior frontal gyrus with transcranial magnetic stimulation improved the incorporation of bad news into beliefs, enhancing vulnerability assessment.

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Online Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of Dorsomedial and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Cognition Decision Making, and Cognitive Dissonance

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Published on: December 5, 2025

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Behavioral Economics

Background:

Humans exhibit a cognitive bias, favoring positive information (good news) over negative information (bad news) during belief formation and updating.
This 'good news/bad news effect' can lead to significant societal issues, such as financial bubbles, inadequate disaster preparedness, and suboptimal medical choices.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the asymmetric processing of good and bad news.
To determine if targeted brain stimulation can mitigate the 'good news/bad news effect' and improve the incorporation of unfavorable information.

Main Methods:

Utilized transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to selectively disrupt the function of the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG).
Assessed changes in belief updating tendencies, specifically the incorporation of unfavorable information, following TMS intervention.
Compared the effects of stimulating the left LIFG versus the right inferior frontal gyrus and a sham condition.

Main Results:

Disruption of the left inferior frontal gyrus significantly enhanced participants' tendency to incorporate bad news into their beliefs.
The effect was specific to the left LIFG; stimulation of the right inferior frontal gyrus did not yield the same result.
This intervention effectively reduced the 'good news/bad news effect', demonstrating a paradoxical enhancement of unfavorable information processing.

Conclusions:

The left inferior frontal gyrus plays a critical role in the asymmetric processing of news, specifically in downplaying unfavorable information.
Targeted neuromodulation of the LIFG offers a potential method to correct cognitive biases related to risk perception and decision-making.
These findings have implications for understanding and potentially mitigating maladaptive beliefs in various domains, from financial markets to public health.