Autism‐relevant traits interact with temporoparietal junction stimulation effects on social cognition: a high‐definition transcranial direct current stimulation and electroencephalography study

摘要

Abstract The temporoparietal junction (TPJ ) is implicated in mental and emotional state attribution, processes associated with autismrelevant traits. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS ) to theTPJ can influence socialcognitive performance. However, associations with electrophysiology and autismrelevant traits remain relatively unexamined. This study had two aims: first, exploring links between AutismSpectrum Quotient (AQ ) scores and socialcognitive performance; second, examining interactions betweenAQ scores and highdefinitiontDCS (HD tDCS ) applied to the rightTPJ in terms of mental/emotional state attribution and neurophysiological outcomes. Fiftythree participants completed mental/emotional state attribution tasks before and afterHD tDCS . Prestimulation mental state attribution accuracy was reduced in participants with higherAQ Switching scores. Cathodal stimulation was associated with reduced emotion attribution performance in participants with higherAQ Switching andAQ Social scores (the latter at trendlevel). Anodal stimulation more frequently interacted withAQ Social scores in terms of neurophysiology, in particular regarding reduced delta power in the left compared to rightTPJ , and trendlevel positive interactions with P100 and P300 latencies during the emotion recognition task. Elements of attention/switching (AQ Switching) may subserve or underpin elements of social cognition (AQ Social), and cathodal and anodal stimulation may have differing effects depending on trait levels in these domains. This study makes an important and original contribution in terms of increasing understanding of how such traitlevel variation might interact with the effects oftDCS and also extending previous studies with regard to understanding potential roles of therTPJ in both attention and social cognition and how autismrelevant traits might influenceTPJ function.