ArticlePLoS biology2020
The right temporoparietal junction enables delay of gratification by allowing decision makers to focus on future events.
Article in PLoS biology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 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
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review of the neurobiological effects of theta-burst stimulation (TBS) as measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).Brain structure & function · 2023Pooled it
- A large-scale dataset of choice and response-time data in intertemporal choice.Scientific data · 2026Article
- Sweet-taste liking is associated with preference for less risky and immediate rewards in economic decision-making.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Neural reward system reflects individual value comparison strategy in cost-benefit decisions.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Belief Updating during Social Interactions: Neural Dynamics and Causal Role of Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024Article
- Does sadness bring myopia: an intertemporal choice experiment with college students.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Individual differences in delay discounting are associated with dorsal prefrontal cortex connectivity in children, adolescents, and adults.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2023Article
- The intracortical myelin content of impulsive choices: results from T1- and T2-weighted MRI myelin mapping.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2023Article
- Effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and their underlying neural mechanisms evaluated with magnetic resonance imaging-based brain connectivity network analyses.European journal of radiology open · 2023Review
- Novel Cognitive Functions Arise at the Convergence of Macroscale Gradients.Journal of cognitive neuroscience · 2022Review
- Multi-scale neural decoding and analysis.Journal of neural engineering · 2021Review
- The self in context: brain systems linking mental and physical health.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2021Review
- Testosterone reduces generosity through cortical and subcortical mechanisms.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Studies of neural processes underlying delay of gratification usually focus on prefrontal networks related to curbing affective impulses. Here, we provide evidence for an alternative mechanism that facilitates delaying gratification by mental orientation towards the future. Combining continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) with functional neuroimaging, we tested how the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) facilitates processing of future events and thereby promotes delay of gratification. Participants performed an intertemporal decision task and a mental time-travel task in the MRI scanner before and after receiving cTBS over the rTPJ or the vertex (control site). rTPJ cTBS led to both stronger temporal discounting for longer delays and reduced processing of future relative to past events in the mental time-travel task. This finding suggests that the rTPJ contributes to the ability to delay gratification by facilitating mental representation of outcomes in the future. On the neural level, rTPJ cTBS led to a reduction in the extent to which connectivity of rTPJ with striatum reflected the value of delayed rewards, indicating a role of rTPJ-striatum connectivity in constructing neural representations of future rewards. Together, our findings provide evidence that the rTPJ is an integral part of a brain network that promotes delay of gratification by facilitating mental orientation to future rewards.
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.