title: Functional relevance of the precuneus in verbal politeness.
abstract: Non-competitive and non-threatening aspects of social hierarchy, such as politeness, are universal among human cultures, and might have evolved from ritualized submission in primates; however, these behaviors have rarely been studied. Honorific language is a type of polite linguistic communication that plays an important role in human social interactions ranging from everyday conversation to international diplomacy. Here, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) revealed selective precuneus activation during a verbal politeness judgment task, but not other linguistic-judgment or social-status recognition tasks. The magnitude of the activation was correlated with the task performance. Functional suppression of the activation using cathodal transcranial direct-current stimulation reduced performance in the politeness task. These results suggest that the precuneus is an essential hub of the verbal politeness judgment.
authors.affiliation: Human Brain Research Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 54 Shogoin Kawahara, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
authors.forename: Aoi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ashizuka
authors.affiliation: Human Brain Research Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 54 Shogoin Kawahara, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan. Electronic address: mima@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mima
authors.affiliation: Human Brain Research Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 54 Shogoin Kawahara, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobukatsu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sawamoto
authors.affiliation: Human Brain Research Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 54 Shogoin Kawahara, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aso
authors.affiliation: Human Brain Research Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 54 Shogoin Kawahara, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Oishi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 54 Shogoin Kawahara, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
authors.forename: Genichi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sugihara
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 54 Shogoin Kawahara, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryosaku
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kawada
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 54 Shogoin Kawahara, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
authors.forename: Hidehiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 54 Shogoin Kawahara, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murai
authors.affiliation: Human Brain Research Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 54 Shogoin Kawahara, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
authors.forename: Hidenao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukuyama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Politeness; Precuneus; fMRI; tDCS