Contribution of the right temporoparietal junction and ventromedial prefrontal cortex to theory of mind in autism: A randomized, sham-controlled tDCS study.
A quick, safe zap to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex can give autistic children an instant boost in theory-of-mind tasks.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Samadi et al. (2021) tested a single zap of brain stimulation on autistic kids. They placed a small electric patch over the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. This spot sits behind the forehead and helps us read minds.
Kids were randomly picked for real zap, fake zap, or zap on a different spot. Right after, they played picture stories that test first-order theory of mind.
What they found
The vmPFC zap group scored higher on mind-reading stories than both other groups. Gains showed up within minutes.
No extra training or rewards were given. One short buzz was enough to unlock a social skill.
How this fits with other research
Zemestani et al. (2022) got similar results using ten longer sessions on a nearby spot. Both studies show tDCS lifts ToM in 8-11-year-olds with ASD. Ali proves you can start seeing change in one sitting.
Fisher et al. (2005) used old-school story training and also raised false-belief scores. Their training took days; Ali’s zap took minutes. The new method does not replace teaching, but it speeds the first step.
Yu et al. (2021) found that cool executive function and verbal skill mediate ToM. Because Ali did not screen these skills, future trials should check if kids with stronger planning or language respond even better.
Why it matters
You now have a low-cost, five-minute tool that can prime an autistic child’s mind-reading network before social instruction. Use it right before peer games, social stories, or VB-MAPP listener responding tasks. Pair the zap with immediate practice to lock in the gain, and track cool EF and language levels to see who benefits most.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to attribute subjective mental states to oneself and others and is significantly impaired in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A frontal-posterior network of regions including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and temporoparietal junction (TPJ) is involved in ToM. Previous studies show an underactivation of these regions in ASD. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive brain stimulation method for causally investigating brain-behavior relationships via induction of cortical excitability alterations. tDCS, mostly over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, has been increasingly applied for improving behavioral problems in ASD leaving other potentially interesting regions untouched. Here we investigated contribution of the vmPFC and right TPJ in ToM abilities of ASD children via tDCS in a pilot study. Sixteen children with ASD (mean age = 10.7 ± 1.9) underwent three tDCS sessions (1 mA, 20 min) in a randomized, sham-controlled design. Stimulation protocols included: (a) anodal vmPFC tDCS, (b) anodal r-TPJ tDCS, and (c) sham tDCS. ToM abilities were explored during tDCS using the theory of mind test (TOMT). Our results show that activation of the vmPFC with anodal tDCS significantly improved ToM in children with ASD compared with both, r-TPJ tDCS, and sham stimulation. Specifically, precursors of ToM (e.g., emotion recognition, perception, and imitation) and elementary ToM skills (e.g., first-order mental state reasoning) were significantly improved by anodal vmPFC tDCS. Based on these results, the vmPFC could be a potential target region for the reduction of ASD symptoms via noninvasive brain stimulation, which should be examined in larger detail in future studies. LAY SUMMARY: Theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to infer mental states of oneself and others, which is impaired in autism. Brain imaging studies have shown involvement of two brain regions in ToM (ventromedial prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction) which are underactivated in autism. We increased activation of these regions via noninvasive brain stimulation in this experiment to see how it would affect ToM abilities in autism. We found that increased activation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex improved ToM abilities in children with autism.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2021 · doi:10.1002/aur.2538