title: The role of medial prefrontal cortex in theory of mind: a deep rTMS study.
abstract: Neuroimaging studies suggest that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) plays a central role in cognitive theory of mind (ToM). This can be assessed more definitively, however, using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Sixteen healthy participants (10 females, 6 males) completed tasks assessing cognitive and affective ToM following low-frequency deep rTMS to bilateral mPFC in active-stimulation and placebo-stimulation sessions. There was no effect of deep rTMS on either cognitive or affective ToM performance. When examining self-reported empathy, however, there was evidence for a double dissociation: deep rTMS disrupted affective ToM performance for those with high self-reported empathy, but improved affective ToM performance for those with low self-reported empathy. mPFC appears to play a role in affective ToM processing, but the present study suggest that stimulation outcomes are dependent on baseline empathic abilities.
authors.affiliation: Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University and the Alfred, Australia.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Krause
authors.forename: Peter G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Enticott
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zangen
authors.forename: Paul B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Fitzgerald
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D057566:Self Report; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology*; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*