The right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ) and the right lateral prefrontal cortex (rLPFC) are known to play prominent roles in human social behavior. However, it remains unknown which brain rhythms in these regions contribute to trading-off fairness norms against selfish interests as well as whether the influence of these oscillations depends on whether fairness violations are advantageous or disadvantageous for a decision maker. To answer these questions, we used noninvasive transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to determine which brain rhythms in rTPJ and rLPFC are causally involved in moderating aversion to advantageous and disadvantageous inequity. Our results show that theta oscillations in rTPJ strengthen the aversion to unequal splits, which is statistically mediated by the rTPJ’s role for perspective taking. In contrast, theta tACS over rLPFC enhanced the preference for outcome-maximising unequal choices more strongly for disadvantageous compared to advantageous outcome distributions. Taken together, we provide evidence that neural oscillations in rTPJ and rLPFC have distinct causal roles in implementing inequity aversion, which can be explained by their involvement in distinct psychological processes.

中文翻译：

---

前额叶和颞顶叶θ振荡对不平等厌恶的因果作用

众所周知，右侧颞顶叶交界处（rTPJ）和右侧前额叶皮层（rLPFC）在人类社会行为中发挥着重要作用。然而，目前尚不清楚这些区域的哪些大脑节律有助于权衡公平规范与自私利益，以及这些振荡的影响是否取决于违反公平原则对决策者是有利还是不利。为了回答这些问题，我们使用无创经颅交流电刺激（tACS）来确定 rTPJ 和 rLPFC 中的哪些脑节律与调节对有利和不利不平等的厌恶有因果关系。我们的结果表明，rTPJ 中的 theta 振荡增强了对不平等分裂的厌恶，这在统计学上是由 rTPJ 的观点采择作用介导的。相比之下，相对于有利的结果分布，theta tACS 相对于 rLPFC 更强烈地增强了对不利结果分布的结果最大化不平等选择的偏好。综上所述，我们提供的证据表明，rTPJ 和 rLPFC 中的神经振荡在实现不平等厌恶方面具有不同的因果作用，这可以通过它们参与不同的心理过程来解释。