Date of Award

5-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School

College of Science and Mathematics

Department/Program

Biology

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Julian Paul Keenan

Committee Member

Christos Suriano

Committee Member

Ruth Propper

Abstract

Theory of Mind (ToM) is conceptualized as the ability to infer the thoughts and feelings of others. Many studies have found that ToM abilities play a central role in collaborative communication between adults, and that teachers are more effective when they have high levels of ToM. One of the main brain regions implicated in ToM is the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ), which is thought to be responsible for evaluating a person’s belief formation process. The current study had participants engage in a Lego model building task consisting of a director who instructed a builder on how to create duplicate models from a prototype that only the director could see. The rTPJ of the director was targeted for excitatory (10 Hz) transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and inhibitory (1 Hz) TMS. While we found no statistically significant difference in the amount of time needed to complete each model or in the accuracy of the models, we noticed a definite pattern in which there was a decrease in the amount of time needed and an increase in accuracy between excitatory TMS and sham TMS (the control). The opposite pattern was observed between inhibitory TMS and sham TMS. These results suggest that teaching abilities are likely at least partially dependent on the rTPJ.

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