title: The role of the right temporoparietal junction in the control of imitation.
abstract: Controlling neural representations of the self and other people is fundamental to social cognition. Brain imaging studies have implicated the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) in this ability, but causal evidence for its role is lacking. A debate is also ongoing regarding whether the control of, or switching between, self and other representations is a specialized or domain-general process: the rTPJ's well-established role in reorienting attention supports a domain-general process, but a role specific to social cognition has also been proposed. Neuronavigated repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to target the rTPJ (and a control mid-occipital site) during a task requiring participants to switch between representations of others' actions on both a social and a nonsocial level, by manipulating imitative and spatial compatibility simultaneously and independently. Both imitative and spatial compatibility effects were apparent on response times; however, the effect of imitative compatibility was significantly stronger, indicating less control of imitation, during stimulation of the rTPJ relative to the control site. This suggests that the rTPJ is involved in switching between self and other representations, and further, that this process may not be entirely domain general.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sowden
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Catmur
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D012919:Social Behavior; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
keywords: TPJ; imitative compatibility; self–other control; social cognition; transcranial magnetic stimulation