Dissecting functional contributions of the social brain to strategic behavior

Mapping the mentalizing brain: An ALE meta-analysis to differentiate the representation of social scenes and ages on theory of mind

Theory of mind (ToM) involves understanding others' mental states and relies on brain regions like the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). This meta-analytic review categorizes ToM studies into six sub-components across three pairs: (1) Theory of collective mind (ToCM) and individualized theory of mind (iToM), (2) Social intention ToM and private intention ToM, and (3) ToM in adults and ToM in children. We conducted coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation (ALE) analyses and meta-analytic connectivity modeling (MACM) for each sub-component. We found that the ToM components utilized in social or group situations were associated with both the dorsomedial PFC (dmPFC) and right superior temporal sulcus (STS), whereas the ToM components focused on personal concentration were associated with both the lateral PFC and the left STS. The coactivation patterns for the group and age sub-component pairs showed significant spatial overlap with the language networks. These findings indicate that ToM is a multidimensional construct that is related to distinct functional networks for processing each of the ToM sub-components.

Electrophysiological correlates of (mis)judging social information

Social information can be used to optimize decision-making. However, the simultaneous presentation of multiple sources of advice can lead to a distinction bias in judging the validity of the information. While the involvement of event-related potential (ERP) components in social information processing has been studied, how they are modulated by (mis)judging an advisor's information validity remains unknown. In two experiments participants performed a decision-making task with highly accurate or inaccurate cues. Each experiment consisted of an initial, learning, and test phase. During the learning phase, three advice cues were simultaneously presented and the validity of them had to be assessed. The effect of different cue constellations on ERPs was investigated. In the subsequent test phase, the willingness to follow or oppose an advice cue was tested. Results demonstrated the distinction bias with participants over or underestimating the accuracy of the most uncertain cues. The P2 amplitude was significantly increased during cue presentation when advisors were in disagreement as compared to when all were in agreement, regardless of cue validity. Further, a larger P3 amplitude during outcome presentation was found when advisors were in disagreement and increased with more informative cues. As such, the most uncertain cues were related to the smallest P3 amplitude. The findings hint at the possible role of P3 in judging and learning the predictability of social cues. This study provides novel insights into the role of P2 and P3 components during the judgment of social information validity.

Repetitive deep TMS in alcohol dependent patients halts progression of white matter changes in early abstinence

AIM

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is the most prevalent form of addiction, with a great burden on society and limited treatment options. A recent clinical trial reported significant clinical benefits of deep transcranial magnetic stimulations (Deep TMS) targeting midline frontocortical areas. However, the underlying biological substrate remained elusive. Here, we report the effect of Deep TMS on the microstructure of white matter.

METHODS

A total of 37 (14 females) AUD treatment-seeking patients were randomized to sham or active Deep TMS. Twenty (six females) age-matched healthy controls were included. White matter integrity was evaluated by fractional anisotropy (FA). Secondary measures included brain functional connectivity and self-reports of craving and drinking units in the 3 months of follow-up period.

RESULTS

White matter integrity was compromised in patients with AUD relative to healthy controls, as reflected by the widespread reduction in FA. This alteration progressed during early abstinence (3 weeks) in the absence of Deep TMS. However, stimulation of midline frontocortical areas arrested the progression of FA changes in association with decreased craving and relapse scores. Reconstruction of axonal tracts from white-matter regions showing preserved FA values identified cortical regions in the posterior cingulate and dorsomedial prefrontal cortices where functional connectivity was persistently modulated. These effects were absent in the sham-stimulated group.

CONCLUSIONS

By integrating brain structure and function to characterize the alcohol-dependent brain, this study provides mechanistic insights into the TMS effect, pointing to myelin plasticity as a possible mediator.

Exploring the role of mutual prediction in inter-brain synchronization during competitive interactions: an fNIRS hyperscanning investigation

Mutual prediction is crucial for understanding the mediation of bodily actions in social interactions. Despite this importance, limited studies have investigated neurobehavioral patterns under the mutual prediction hypothesis in natural competitive scenarios. To address this gap, our study employed functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning to examine the dynamics of real-time rock-paper-scissors games using a computerized paradigm with 54 participants. Firstly, our results revealed activations in the right inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and bilateral frontopolar cortex, each displaying distinct temporal profiles indicative of diverse cognitive processes during the task. Subsequently, a task-related increase in inter-brain synchrony was explicitly identified in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which supported the mutual prediction hypothesis across the two brains. Moreover, our investigation uncovered a close association between the coherence value in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the dynamic predictive performances of dyads using inter-subject representational similarity analysis. Finally, heightened inter-brain synchrony values were observed in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex before a draw compared to a no-draw scenario in the second block, suggesting that cross-brain signal patterns could be reflected in behavioral responses during competition. In summary, these findings provided initial support for expanding the understanding of cognitive processes underpinning natural competitive engagements.

Neural Mechanisms Underlying Trust to Friends, Community Members, and Unknown Peers in Adolescence

Trust plays an important role during adolescence for developing social relations. Although prior developmental studies give us insight into adolescents' development of differentiation between close (e.g., friends) and unknown (e.g., unknown peers) targets in trust choices, less is known about the development of trust to societal targets (e.g., members of a community organization) and its underlying neural mechanisms. Using a modified version of the Trust Game, our preregistered fMRI study examined the underlying neural mechanisms of trust to close (friend), societal (community member), and unknown others (unknown peer) during adolescence in 106 participants (aged 12-23 years). Adolescents showed most trust to friends, less trust to community members, and the least trust to unknown peers. Neural results show that target differentiation in adolescents' trust behavior is associated with activity in social brain regions implicated during mentalizing, reward processing, and cognitive control. Recruitment of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and OFC was higher for closer targets (i.e., friend and community member). For the mPFC, this effect was most pronounced during no trust choices. Trust to friends was additionally associated with increased activity in the precuneus and bilateral temporal parietal junction. In contrast, bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex were most active for trust to unknown peers. The mPFC showed increased activity with age and consistent relations with individual differences in feeling needed/useful.

Action-rule-based cognitive control enables efficient execution of stimulus-response conflict tasks: a model validation of Simon task performance

Introduction

The human brain can flexibly modify behavioral rules to optimize task performance (speed and accuracy) by minimizing cognitive load. To show this flexibility, we propose an action-rule-based cognitive control (ARC) model. The ARC model was based on a stochastic framework consistent with an active inference of the free energy principle, combined with schematic brain network systems regulated by the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), to develop several hypotheses for demonstrating the validity of the ARC model.

Methods

A step-motion Simon task was developed involving congruence or incongruence between important symbolic information (illustration of a foot labeled "L" or "R," where "L" requests left and "R" requests right foot movement) and irrelevant spatial information (whether the illustration is actually of a left or right foot). We made predictions for behavioral and brain responses to testify to the theoretical predictions.

Results

Task responses combined with event-related deep-brain activity (ER-DBA) measures demonstrated a key contribution of the dACC in this process and provided evidence for the main prediction that the dACC could reduce the Shannon surprise term in the free energy formula by internally reversing the irrelevant rapid anticipatory postural adaptation. We also found sequential effects with modulated dip depths of ER-DBA waveforms that support the prediction that repeated stimuli with the same congruency can promote remodeling of the internal model through the information gain term while counterbalancing the surprise term.

Discussion

Overall, our results were consistent with experimental predictions, which may support the validity of the ARC model. The sequential effect accompanied by dip modulation of ER-DBA waveforms suggests that cognitive cost is saved while maintaining cognitive performance in accordance with the framework of the ARC based on 1-bit congruency-dependent selective control.

Neurocomputations on dual-brain signals underlie interpersonal prediction during a natural conversation

Prediction on the partner's speech plays a key role in a smooth conversation. However, previous studies on this issue have been majorly conducted at the single-brain rather than dual-brain level, leaving the interpersonal prediction hypothesis untested. To fill this gap, this study combined a neurocomputational modeling approach with a natural conversation paradigm in which two salespersons persuaded a customer to buy their product with their haemodynamic signals being collected using functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning. First, the results showed a cognitive hierarchy in a natural conversation, with the lower-level process (i.e., pragmatic representation of the persuasion) in the salesperson interacting with the higher-level process (i.e., value representation of the product) in the customer. Next, we found that the right dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (rdlPFC) and temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) were associated with the representation of the product's value in the customer, while the right inferior frontal cortex (rIFC) was associated with the representation of the pragmatic processes in the salesperson. Finally, neurocomputational modeling results supported the prediction of the salesperson's lower-level brain activity based on the customer's higher-level brain activity. Moreover, the updating weight of the prediction model based on the neural computation between the rIFC of the salesperson and the rTPJ of the customer was closely associated with the interaction context, whereas that based on the rIFC-rdlPFC was not. In summary, these findings provide initial support for the interpersonal prediction hypothesis at the dual-brain level and reveal a hierarchy for the interpersonal prediction process.

Distinctive Roles of Medial Prefrontal Cortex Subregions in Strategic Conformity to Social Hierarchy

People often align their behaviors and decisions with others' expectations, especially those of higher social positions, when they are being observed. However, little attention has been paid to the neural mechanisms underlying increased conformity to the social hierarchy under social observation. Using a preference rating task, we investigated whether and how individual preferences for novel stimuli were influenced by others' preferences by manipulating others' social hierarchy and observational context. The behavioral results showed that human participants of both sexes were more likely to change their preferences to match those of a superior partner in a public than in a private context. fMRI data revealed distinct contributions of the subregions of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to increased conformity to social hierarchy under observation. Specifically, the ventral mPFC showed increased activity when participants' preferences aligned with those of superior partners, regardless of behavioral manifestation. The rostral mPFC showed increased activity when conforming to a superior partner and nonconforming to an inferior one, indicating goal-dependent valuation. The dorsal mPFC showed increased activity in private conditions with a superior partner but only in those with a higher tendency to conform. These findings support the hierarchical allostatic regulation model of the mPFC function for social valuation and suggest strategic conformity as a way to minimize metabolic costs.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This study revealed distinct roles of subregions of the mPFC in increased conformity to individuals of different social ranks under observation. Specifically, the ventral mPFC showed increased activity when participants' preferences aligned with those of higher-ranking partners, whereas the rostral mPFC showed increased activity when conforming to a superior partner and nonconforming to an inferior partner, indicating goal-dependent valuation. The dorsal mPFC was more active in private conditions with a superior partner but only in those with a higher tendency to conform. These findings support the hierarchical allostatic regulation model of the mPFC function for social valuation and suggest strategic conformity as a way to minimize metabolic costs.

Anodal tDCS over TPJ reduces bidding in Tullock contest: Implications for social decision-making

Contests, as economic, political, and social interactions, can stimulate high levels of effort, but they can also lead to inefficient expenditure of effort (overbidding), resulting in the wastage of social resources. Prior studies have indicated that the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) is associated with overbidding and speculating on the intentions of others during contests. This study aimed to investigate the neural mechanisms of the TPJ in overbidding and to examine changes in bidding behavior after modulating TPJ activity using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). The experiment randomly allocated participants into three groups, each receiving either anodal stimulation of the LTPJ/RTPJ or sham stimulation. Following the stimulation, the participants engaged in the Tullock rent-seeking game. Our results revealed that participants who received anodal stimulation of the LTPJ and RTPJ significantly reduced their bids compared to the sham group, possibly due to enhanced accuracy in guessing others' strategies or enhanced altruistic preferences. Moreover, our findings suggest that while both the LTPJ and RTPJ are associated with overbidding behavior, anodal tDCS targeting the RTPJ is more effective than stimulation of the LTPJ in decreasing overbidding. The aforementioned revelations offer proof of the neural mechanisms of the TPJ in overbidding and provide fresh substantiation for the neural mechanisms of social behavior.

Teachers recruit mentalizing regions to represent learners' beliefs

Teaching enables humans to impart vast stores of culturally specific knowledge and skills. However, little is known about the neural computations that guide teachers' decisions about what information to communicate. Participants (N = 28) played the role of teachers while being scanned using fMRI; their task was to select examples that would teach learners how to answer abstract multiple-choice questions. Participants' examples were best described by a model that selects evidence that maximizes the learner's belief in the correct answer. Consistent with this idea, participants' predictions about how well learners would do closely tracked the performance of an independent sample of learners (N = 140) who were tested on the examples they had provided. In addition, regions that play specialized roles in processing social information, namely the bilateral temporoparietal junction and middle and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, tracked learners' posterior belief in the correct answer. Our results shed light on the computational and neural architectures that support our extraordinary abilities as teachers.

Role of right temporoparietal junction for counterfactual evaluation of partner's decision in ultimatum game

Humans assess the distributions of resources based on their aversion to unfairness. If a partner distributes in an unfair manner even though the partner had a less unfair distribution option, a recipient will believe that the partner should have chosen the counterfactual option. In this study, we investigated the neural basis for fairness evaluation of actual and counterfactual options in the ultimatum game. In this task, a partner chose one distribution option out of two options, and a participant accepted or rejected the option. The behavioral results showed that the acceptance rate was influenced by counterfactual evaluation (CE), among others, as defined by the difference of monetary amount between the actual and counterfactual options. The functional magnetic resonance imaging results showed that CE was associated with the right ventral angular gyrus (vAG) that provided one of convergent inputs to the supramarginal gyrus related to decision utility, which reflects gross preferences for the distribution options. Furthermore, inhibitory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation administered to the right vAG reduced the behavioral component associated with CE. These results suggest that our acceptance/rejection of distribution options relies on multiple processes (monetary amount, disadvantageous inequity, and CE) and that the right vAG causally contributes to CE.

Neurocomputations of strategic behavior: From iterated to novel interactions

Strategic interactions, where an individual's payoff depends on the decisions of multiple intelligent agents, are ubiquitous among social animals. They span a variety of important social behaviors such as competition, cooperation, coordination, and communication, and often involve complex, intertwining cognitive operations ranging from basic reward processing to higher‐order mentalization. Here, we review the progress and challenges in probing the neural and cognitive mechanisms of strategic behavior of interacting individuals, drawing an analogy to recent developments in studies of reward‐seeking behavior, in particular, how research focuses in the field of strategic behavior have been expanded from adaptive behavior based on trial‐and‐error to flexible decisions based on limited prior experience. We highlight two important research questions in the field of strategic behavior: (i) How does the brain exploit past experience for learning to behave strategically? and (ii) How does the brain decide what to do in novel strategic situations in the absence of direct experience? For the former, we discuss the utility of learning models that have effectively connected various types of neural data with strategic learning behavior and helped elucidate the interplay among multiple learning processes. For the latter, we review the recent evidence and propose a neural generative mechanism by which the brain makes novel strategic choices through simulating others' goal‐directed actions according to rational or bounded‐rational principles obtained through indirect social knowledge.

This article is categorized under:

Economics > Interactive Decision‐Making

Psychology > Reasoning and Decision Making

Neuroscience > Cognition

Medial and orbital frontal cortex in decision-making and flexible behavior

The medial frontal cortex and adjacent orbitofrontal cortex have been the focus of investigations of decision-making, behavioral flexibility, and social behavior. We review studies conducted in humans, macaques, and rodents and argue that several regions with different functional roles can be identified in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, perigenual anterior cingulate cortex, anterior medial frontal cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and medial and lateral parts of the orbitofrontal cortex. There is increasing evidence that the manner in which these areas represent the value of the environment and specific choices is different from subcortical brain regions and more complex than previously thought. Although activity in some regions reflects distributions of reward and opportunities across the environment, in other cases, activity reflects the structural relationships between features of the environment that animals can use to infer what decision to take even if they have not encountered identical opportunities in the past.

Transferring cognitive talent across domains to reduce the disposition effect in investment

We consider Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to correctly predict the intentions of others. To an important degree, good ToM function requires abstraction from one’s own particular circumstances. Here, we posit that such abstraction can be transferred successfully to other, non-social contexts. We consider the disposition effect, which is a pervasive cognitive bias whereby investors, including professionals, improperly take their personal trading history into account when deciding on investments. We design an intervention policy whereby we attempt to transfer good ToM function, subconsciously, to personal investment decisions. In a within-subject repeated-intervention laboratory experiment, we record how the disposition effect is reduced by a very significant 85%, but only for those with high scores on the social-cognitive dimension of ToM function. No such transfer is observed in subjects who score well only on the social-perceptual dimension of ToM function. Our findings open up a promising way to exploit cognitive talent in one domain in order to alleviate cognitive deficiencies elsewhere.