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"Rationality" enhancement through anodal tDCS over the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex
Jonathan Slater1, Michal Lavidor1,2, Eliran Halali3
1Psychology Department, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 52900, Israel.
Scientific Reports
|July 27, 2025
Summary
The right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC) plays a key role in promoting self-interested economic behavior. Stimulating this brain region increased acceptance of unfair offers in social exchange games.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Economics
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Classical economic theories assume pure self-interest, but experimental findings show social preferences (fairness, reciprocity) often conflict with self-interest.
- A debate exists on whether social preferences are automatic or require cognitive control to override self-interest.
- The right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC) and right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC) are implicated in managing this conflict, but rVLPFC's role is understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the causal role of the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC) in modulating social preferences versus self-interest.
- To examine the behavioral effects of stimulating the rVLPFC using anodal transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) in an economic decision-making task.
Main Methods:
- Anodal transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) was applied over the rVLPFC in human participants.
- Participants' behavior was assessed using the ultimatum game, a standard economic exchange paradigm.
- Control conditions included sham stimulation and variations in offer source (human vs. computer) and player role (self vs. proxy).
Main Results:
- rVLPFC stimulation significantly increased the acceptance rate of unfair offers compared to sham stimulation.
- This effect persisted regardless of whether offers originated from a human or a computer.
- The pro-self-interest effect was absent when participants acted on behalf of another individual, suggesting context-dependency.
Conclusions:
- The findings establish a causal role for the rVLPFC in promoting "rational" self-interested behavior in social exchange.
- This suggests that the rVLPFC is crucial for overriding fairness considerations in favor of economic gain.
- The study contributes to understanding the neural mechanisms underlying the interplay between social preferences and self-interest.
