Trial reportPloS one2012
Empathy moderates the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on costly punishment.
Trial report in PloS one, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Lateralization of self-control over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in decision-making: a systematic review and meta-analytic evidence from noninvasive brain stimulation.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2024Pooled it
- Neural signatures of fairness-related normative decision making in the ultimatum game: a coordinate-based meta-analysis.Human brain mapping · 2015Pooled it
- Resting-State Neural Signatures of Moral Injury: Associations With Rumination.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2026Article
- Cocaine polydrug use and its impact on intentional harm recognition: a high-density EEG study.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Toward a neuropsychology of political orientation: exploring ideology in patients with frontal and midbrain lesions.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Altered third-party punishment in Huntington's disease: A study using neuroeconomic games.Brain and behavior · 2021Article
- Inhibition of the right dlPFC by theta burst stimulation does not alter sustainable decision-making.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Modulating Activity in the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Changes Punishment in the 3-Player Prisoner's Dilemma: A Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Study.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2019Article
- Empathy in Negative and Positive Interpersonal Interactions. What is the Relationship Between Central (EEG, fNIRS) and Peripheral (Autonomic) Neurophysiological Responses?Advances in cognitive psychology · 2017Article
- Face-to-Face Sharing with Strangers and Altruistic Punishment of Acquaintances for Strangers: Young Adolescents Exhibit Greater Altruism than Adults.Frontiers in psychology · 2016Article
- The Importance of the Lateral Prefrontal Cortex for Strategic Decision Making in the Prisoner's Dilemma.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2015Article
- Money talks: neural substrate of modulation of fairness by monetary incentives.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2014Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Humans incur considerable costs to punish unfairness directed towards themselves or others. Recent studies using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) suggest that the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is causally involved in such strategic decisions. Presently, two partly divergent hypotheses are discussed, suggesting either that the right DLPFC is necessary to control selfish motives by implementing culturally transmitted social norms, or is involved in suppressing emotion-driven prepotent responses to perceived unfairness. Accordingly, we studied the role of the DLPFC in costly (i.e. third party) punishment by applying rTMS to the left and right DLPFC before playing a Dictator Game with the option to punish observed unfair behavior (DG-P). In addition, sham stimulation took place. Individual differences in empathy were assessed with the German version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Costly punishment increased (non-significantly) upon disruption of the right--but not the left--DLPFC as compared to sham stimulation. However, empathy emerged as a highly significant moderator variable of the effect of rTMS over the right, but not left, DLPFC, suggesting that the right DLPFC is involved in controlling prepotent emotional responses to observed unfairness, depending on individual differences in empathy.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.