ArticleBrain stimulation
Dual-site TMS demonstrates causal functional connectivity between the left and right posterior temporal sulci during facial expression recognition.
Article in Brain stimulation. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- A neuroimaging meta-analysis on social impression formation of stable characteristics.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2026Pooled it
- A sequential dual-site repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for major depressive disorder: A randomized clinical trial.Cell reports. Medicine · 2025Trial
- Exploring the Sensorimotor System's Role in Emotional Authenticity Discrimination: A ccPAS Study.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2026Article
- Lip-reading and eye-gaze discrimination are functionally lateralized across the left and right posterior superior temporal sulci.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2026Article
- Modulation of brain oscillations by continuous theta burst stimulation in patients with insomnia.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Biographical information influences on facial attractiveness judgment.Brain imaging and behavior · 2025Article
- Moving and Static Faces, Bodies, Objects, and Scenes Are Differentially Represented across the Three Visual Pathways.Journal of cognitive neuroscience · 2024Article
- TMS disruption of the lateral prefrontal cortex increases neural activity in the default mode network when naming facial expressions.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2023Article
- Turning and multitask gait unmask gait disturbance in mild-to-moderate multiple sclerosis: Underlying specific cortical thinning and connecting fibers damage.Human brain mapping · 2023Article
- Face learning via brief real-world social interactions induces changes in face-selective brain areas and hippocampus.Perception · 2022Article
- Cognitive dysfunctions in high myopia: An overview of potential neural morpho-functional mechanisms.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Review
- Measuring the response to visually presented faces in the human lateral prefrontal cortex.Cerebral cortex communications · 2022Article
- Revisiting the effective connectivity within the distributed cortical network for face perception.Neuroimage. Reports · 2021Article
- Synchronous facial action binds dynamic facial features.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Evidence for a Third Visual Pathway Specialized for Social Perception.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundNeuroimaging studies suggest that facial expression recognition is processed in the bilateral posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS). Our recent repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) study demonstrates that the bilateral pSTS is causally involved in expression recognition, although involvement of the right pSTS is greater than involvement of the left pSTS.
objective/Hypothesis: In this study, we used a dual-site TMS to investigate whether the left pSTS is functionally connected to the right pSTS during expression recognition. We predicted that if this connection exists, simultaneous TMS disruption of the bilateral pSTS would impair expression recognition to a greater extent than unilateral stimulation of the right pSTS alone.
methodsParticipants attended two TMS sessions. In Session 1, participants performed an expression recognition task while rTMS was delivered to the face-sensitive right pSTS (experimental site), object-sensitive right lateral occipital complex (control site) or no rTMS was delivered (behavioural control). In Session 2, the same experimental design was used, except that continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) was delivered to the left pSTS immediately before behavioural testing commenced. Session order was counter-balanced across participants.
resultsIn Session 1, rTMS to the rpSTS impaired performance accuracy compared to the control conditions. Crucially in Session 2, the size of this impairment effect doubled after cTBS was delivered to the left pSTS.
conclusionsOur results provide evidence for a causal functional connection between the left and right pSTS during expression recognition. In addition, this study further demonstrates the utility of the dual-site TMS for investigating causal functional links between brain regions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.