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Association Areas of the Cortex

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Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 7, 2026

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Binding oneself to the mast: stimulating frontopolar cortex enhances precommitment.

Alexander Soutschek¹, Giuseppe Ugazio¹, Molly J Crockett²

¹Laboratory for Social and Neural Systems Research, Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Zurich - 8006, Switzerland.

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

|February 8, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This study shows that stimulating the frontopolar cortex (FPC) with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) enhances people's ability to precommit to long-term goals, improving self-control and resistance to temptation.

Keywords:

impulse control prefrontal cortex self-control tDCS temporal discounting

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Behavioral Economics

Background:

Willpower failures and succumbing to temptation are common, impacting health and financial goals.
Effective strategies to resist temptation could significantly improve societal well-being.
Precommitment, restricting future choices to favor long-term goals, is a known strategy, but its neural basis is unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying precommitment.
To determine if anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the frontopolar cortex (FPC) can enhance precommitment behavior.
To explore novel methods for improving self-control and resistance to temptation.

Main Methods:

Participants engaged in a self-control task involving choices between immediate smaller rewards and delayed larger rewards.
Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) was applied to the frontopolar cortex (FPC) in some participants.
Behavioral outcomes, including the propensity to precommit, were measured and compared between stimulation and control conditions.

Main Results:

Anodal tDCS over the FPC significantly increased participants' propensity to precommit to delayed rewards.
tDCS did not affect non-binding decisions, general impulse control, or reward preferences.
These findings suggest a specific role for the FPC in the implementation of precommitment.

Conclusions:

The frontopolar cortex (FPC) plays a causal role in the ability to precommit to long-term goals.
Anodal tDCS over the FPC offers a potential neuromodulatory approach to enhance self-control and reduce susceptibility to temptation.
This research opens a new avenue for interventions aimed at improving willpower and decision-making.