PMID- 32784394
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20200928
IS  - 2076-3425 (Print)
IS  - 2076-3425 (Electronic)
IS  - 2076-3425 (Linking)
VI  - 10
IP  - 8
DP  - 2020 Aug 8
TI  - Preliminary Evidence of the Role of Medial Prefrontal Cortex in Self-Enhancement: 
      A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study.
LID - 10.3390/brainsci10080535 [doi]
LID - 535
AB  - Humans employ a number of strategies to improve their position in their given 
      social hierarchy. Overclaiming involves presenting oneself as having more 
      knowledge than one actually possesses, and it is typically invoked to increase 
      one's social standing. If increased expectations to possess knowledge is a 
      perceived social pressure, such expectations should increase bouts of 
      overclaiming. As the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) is sensitive to social 
      pressure and disruption of the MPFC leads to decreases in overclaiming, we 
      predicted that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied to the MPFC would 
      reduce overclaiming and the effects would be enhanced in the presence of social 
      pressure. Twelve participants were given a test in which half of the words were 
      real and half were fake, and they were asked how well they knew each word. They 
      were not told that any of the words were fake. Half of the participants were 
      exposed to social pressure while the other half were not. Following TMS delivered 
      to the MPFC, overclaiming rates decreased, specifically under conditions of high 
      social pressure. Medial PFC TMS did not influence real word responses and real 
      words did not interact with the MPFC and social pressure. These preliminary 
      findings support the significant role the MPFC plays in social cognition and the 
      importance of the MPFC in mediating socially meaningful situations. We suggest 
      the role of the MPFC as being highly influenced by the premium placed on social 
      manipulation in human evolution.
FAU - Taylor-Lillquist, Birgitta
AU  - Taylor-Lillquist B
AD  - Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.
FAU - Kanpa, Vivek
AU  - Kanpa V
AD  - Department of Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
FAU - Crawford, Maya
AU  - Crawford M
AD  - Department of Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
FAU - El Filali, Mehdi
AU  - El Filali M
AD  - Department of Psychology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06457, USA.
FAU - Oakes, Julia
AU  - Oakes J
AD  - Department of Psychology, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY 13323, USA.
FAU - Jonasz, Alex
AU  - Jonasz A
AD  - Department of Biology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
FAU - Disney, Amanda
AU  - Disney A
AD  - Department of Dentistry, University of Indiana, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
FAU - Keenan, Julian Paul
AU  - Keenan JP
AD  - Cognitive Neuroimaging Laboratory, 207 Science Hall, Montclair State University, 
      Upper Montclair, NJ 07043, USA.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20200808
PL  - Switzerland
TA  - Brain Sci
JT  - Brain sciences
JID - 101598646
PMC - PMC7464708
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - deception
OT  - medial prefrontal cortex
OT  - overclaiming
OT  - self-deception
OT  - self-enhancement
OT  - social monitoring
OT  - social pressure
OT  - transcranial magnetic stimulation
COIS- The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
EDAT- 2020/08/14 06:00
MHDA- 2020/08/14 06:01
PMCR- 2020/08/01
CRDT- 2020/08/14 06:00
PHST- 2020/06/20 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2020/08/05 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2020/08/06 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2020/08/14 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2020/08/14 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2020/08/14 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2020/08/01 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - brainsci10080535 [pii]
AID - brainsci-10-00535 [pii]
AID - 10.3390/brainsci10080535 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Brain Sci. 2020 Aug 8;10(8):535. doi: 10.3390/brainsci10080535.