Transcranial direct current stimulation changes human endowment effect

To test whether the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) plays role in the endowment effect, we investigated the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the right IFG on the willingness to accept/willingness to pay (WTA/WTP) discrepancy. Twelve healthy subjects underwent anodal, cathodal and sham tDCS on separate days. Stimulation was applied over the right IFG for 20 min at 2 mA. Subjects participated in the pricing task where they evaluated the presented items under WTA and WTP framings during tDCS intervention. The results showed that the WTA/WTP ratio after anodal tDCS was significantly higher than that after cathodal one. In addition, we found that the reaction time during the cathodal tDCS condition was significantly longer compared to those during anodal or sham tDCS conditions. Our findings suggest the functional relevance of the right IFG for producing endowment effect.