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Li Y, Van Dam NT, Wang Z, Zhou J, Xu P, Luo Y. The role of loss aversion in social conformity: psychological and neural representations. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae414. [PMID: 39417701 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2024] [Revised: 08/27/2024] [Indexed: 10/19/2024] Open
Abstract
The impact of others' choices on decision-making is influenced by individual preferences. However, the specific roles of individual preferences in social decision-making remain unclear. In this study, we examine the contributions of risk and loss preferences as well as social influence in decision-making under uncertainty using a gambling task. Our findings indicate that while both individual preferences and social influence affect decision-making in social contexts, loss aversion plays a dominant role, especially in individuals with high loss aversion. This phenomenon is accompanied by increased functional connectivity between the anterior insular cortex and the temporoparietal junction. These results highlight the critical involvement of loss aversion and the anterior insular cortex-temporoparietal junction neural pathway in social decision-making under uncertainty. Our findings provide a computational account of how individual preferences and social information collectively shape our social decision-making behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiman Li
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Science, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Nicholas T Van Dam
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
| | - Zhihao Wang
- Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, Panthéon-Sorbonne University, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Jiali Zhou
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Science, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Pengfei Xu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (BNU), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
- Center for Neuroimaging, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518107, China
| | - Yuejia Luo
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Science, Shenzhen 518060, China
- Institute for Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, University of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Qingdao 266113, China
- The State Key Lab of Cognitive and Learning, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
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Su Z, Garvert MM, Zhang L, Manohar SG, Vogel TA, Thomas L, Balsters JH, Husain M, Apps MAJ, Lockwood PL. Older adults are relatively more susceptible to impulsive social influence than young adults. COMMUNICATIONS PSYCHOLOGY 2024; 2:87. [PMID: 39313518 PMCID: PMC11420232 DOI: 10.1038/s44271-024-00134-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2024] [Accepted: 08/29/2024] [Indexed: 09/25/2024]
Abstract
People differ in their levels of impulsivity and patience, and these preferences are heavily influenced by others. Previous research suggests that susceptibility to social influence may vary with age, but the mechanisms and whether people are more influenced by patience or impulsivity remain unknown. Here, using a delegated inter-temporal choice task and Bayesian computational models, we tested susceptibility to social influence in young (aged 18-36, N = 76) and older (aged 60-80, N = 78) adults. Participants completed a temporal discounting task and then learnt the preferences of two other people (one more impulsive and one more patient) before making their choices again. We used the signed Kullback-Leibler divergence to quantify the magnitude and direction of social influence. We found that, compared to young adults, older adults were relatively more susceptible to impulsive social influence. Factor analyses showed that older adults with higher self-reported levels of affective empathy and emotional motivation were particularly susceptible to impulsive influence. Importantly, older and young adults showed similar learning accuracy about others' preferences, and their baseline impulsivity did not differ. Together, these findings suggest highly affectively empathetic and emotionally motivated older adults may be at higher risk for impulsive decisions, due to their susceptibility to social influence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhilin Su
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
| | - Mona M Garvert
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Junior professorship of Neuroscience, University of Würzburg, 97070, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Lei Zhang
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
- Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
- Centre for Developmental Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Sanjay G Manohar
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK
| | - Todd A Vogel
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
- Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
- Centre for Developmental Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Louisa Thomas
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Joshua H Balsters
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Masud Husain
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Matthew A J Apps
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
- Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
- Centre for Developmental Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Patricia L Lockwood
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
- Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
- Centre for Developmental Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK.
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK.
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK.
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3
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McLaughlin C, Fu QX, Na S, Heflin M, Chung D, Fiore VG, Gu X. Aberrant neural computation of social controllability in nicotine-dependent humans. Commun Biol 2024; 7:988. [PMID: 39143128 PMCID: PMC11324891 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06638-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2024] [Accepted: 07/26/2024] [Indexed: 08/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Social controllability, or the ability to exert control during social interactions, is crucial for optimal decision-making. Inability to do so might contribute to maladaptive behaviors such as smoking, which often takes place in social settings. Here, we examined social controllability in nicotine-dependent humans as they performed an fMRI task where they could influence the offers made by simulated partners. Computational modeling revealed that smokers under-estimated the influence of their actions and self-reported a reduced sense of control, compared to non-smokers. These findings were replicated in a large independent sample of participants recruited online. Neurally, smokers showed reduced tracking of forward projected choice values in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and impaired computation of social prediction errors in the midbrain. These results demonstrate that smokers were less accurate in estimating their personal influence when the social environment calls for control, providing a neurocomputational account for the social cognitive deficits in this population. Pre-registrations: OSF Registries|How interoceptive state interacts with value-based decision-making in addiction (fMRI study). OSF Registries|COVID-19: social cognition, mental health, and social distancing (online study).
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline McLaughlin
- Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
- Center for Computational Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Qi Xiu Fu
- Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
- Center for Computational Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Soojung Na
- Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
- Center for Computational Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Matthew Heflin
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
- Center for Computational Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Dongil Chung
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, Republic of Korea
| | - Vincenzo G Fiore
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
- Center for Computational Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Xiaosi Gu
- Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
- Center for Computational Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
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Wyngaarden JB, Johnston CR, Sazhin D, Dennison JB, Zaff O, Fareri D, McCloskey M, Alloy LB, Smith DV, Jarcho JM. Corticostriatal responses to social reward are linked to trait reward sensitivity and subclinical substance use in young adults. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2024; 19:nsae033. [PMID: 38779870 PMCID: PMC11182064 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsae033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2023] [Revised: 03/14/2024] [Accepted: 05/21/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Aberrant levels of reward sensitivity have been linked to substance use disorder and are characterized by alterations in reward processing in the ventral striatum (VS). Less is known about how reward sensitivity and subclinical substance use relate to striatal function during social rewards (e.g. positive peer feedback). Testing this relation is critical for predicting risk for development of substance use disorder. In this pre-registered study, participants (N = 44) underwent fMRI while completing well-matched tasks that assess neural response to reward in social and monetary domains. Contrary to our hypotheses, aberrant reward sensitivity blunted the relationship between substance use and striatal activation during receipt of rewards, regardless of domain. Moreover, exploratory whole-brain analyses showed unique relations between substance use and social rewards in temporoparietal junction. Psychophysiological interactions demonstrated that aberrant reward sensitivity is associated with increased connectivity between the VS and ventromedial prefrontal cortex during social rewards. Finally, we found that substance use was associated with decreased connectivity between the VS and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex for social rewards, independent of reward sensitivity. These findings demonstrate nuanced relations between reward sensitivity and substance use, even among those without substance use disorder, and suggest altered reward-related engagement of cortico-VS responses as potential predictors of developing disordered behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- James B Wyngaarden
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, 1701 N 13th St Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
| | - Camille R Johnston
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, 1701 N 13th St Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
| | - Daniel Sazhin
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, 1701 N 13th St Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
| | - Jeff B Dennison
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, 1701 N 13th St Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
| | - Ori Zaff
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, 1701 N 13th St Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
| | - Dominic Fareri
- Derner School of Psychology, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY 11530, USA
| | - Michael McCloskey
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, 1701 N 13th St Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
| | - Lauren B Alloy
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, 1701 N 13th St Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
| | - David V Smith
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, 1701 N 13th St Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
| | - Johanna M Jarcho
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, 1701 N 13th St Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
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5
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Wyngaarden JB, Johnston CR, Sazhin D, Dennison JB, Zaff O, Fareri D, McCloskey M, Alloy LB, Smith DV, Jarcho JM. Corticostriatal Responses to Social Reward are Linked to Trait Reward Sensitivity and Subclinical Substance Use in Young Adults. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.01.17.524305. [PMID: 36711485 PMCID: PMC9882176 DOI: 10.1101/2023.01.17.524305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Aberrant levels of reward sensitivity have been linked to substance use disorder and are characterized by alterations in reward processing in the ventral striatum (VS). Less is known about how reward sensitivity and subclinical substance use relate to striatal function during social rewards (e.g., positive peer feedback). Testing this relation is critical for predicting risk for development of substance use disorder. In this pre-registered study, participants (N=44) underwent fMRI while completing well-matched tasks that assess neural response to reward in social and monetary domains. Contrary to our hypotheses, aberrant reward sensitivity blunted the relationship between substance use and striatal activation during receipt of rewards, regardless of domain. Moreover, exploratory whole-brain analyses showed unique relations between substance use and social rewards in temporoparietal junction. Psychophysiological interactions demonstrated that aberrant reward sensitivity is associated with increased connectivity between the VS and ventromedial prefrontal cortex during social rewards. Finally, we found that substance use was associated with decreased connectivity between the VS and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex for social rewards, independent of reward sensitivity. These findings demonstrate nuanced relations between reward sensitivity and substance use, even among those without substance use disorder, and suggest altered reward-related engagement of cortico-VS responses as potential predictors of developing disordered behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- James B. Wyngaarden
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Camille R. Johnston
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Daniel Sazhin
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Jeff B. Dennison
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Ori Zaff
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Dominic Fareri
- Derner School of Psychology, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY, USA
| | - Michael McCloskey
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Lauren B. Alloy
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - David V. Smith
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Johanna M. Jarcho
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
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6
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Gu X, McLaughlin C, Fu Q, Na S, Heflin M, Fiore V. Aberrant neural computation of social controllability in nicotine-dependent humans. RESEARCH SQUARE 2024:rs.3.rs-3854519. [PMID: 38343814 PMCID: PMC10854308 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3854519/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Social controllability, defined as the ability to exert influence when interacting with others, is crucial for optimal decision-making. Inability to do so might contribute to maladaptive behaviors such as drug use, which often takes place in social settings. Here, we examined nicotine-dependent humans using fMRI, as they made choices that could influence the proposals from simulated partners. Computational modeling revealed that smokers under-estimated the influence of their actions and self-reported a reduced sense of control, compared to non-smokers. These findings were replicated in a large independent sample of participants recruited online. Neurally, smokers showed reduced tracking of forward projected choice values in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and impaired computation of social prediction errors in the midbrain. These results demonstrate that smokers were less accurate in estimating their personal influence when the social environment calls for control, providing a neurocomputational account for the social cognitive deficits in this population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaosi Gu
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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7
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Berlin A, Ramotar M, Santiago AT, Liu Z, Li J, Wolinsky H, Wallis CJD, Chua MLK, Paner GP, van der Kwast T, Cooperberg MR, Vickers AJ, Urbach DR, Eggener SE. The influence of the "cancer" label on perceptions and management decisions for low-grade prostate cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 2023; 115:1364-1373. [PMID: 37285311 PMCID: PMC10637044 DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djad108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2023] [Revised: 06/01/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/09/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Grade Group 1 (GG1) prostate cancer should be managed with active surveillance (AS). Global uptake of AS remains disappointingly slow and heterogeneous. Removal of cancer labels has been proposed to reduce GG1 overtreatment. We sought to determine the impact of GG1 disease terminology on individual's perceptions and decision making. METHODS Discrete choice experiments were conducted on 3 cohorts: healthy men, canonical partners (partners), and patients with GG1 (patients). Participants reported preferences in a series of vignettes with 2 scenarios each, permuting key opinion leader-endorsed descriptors: biopsy (adenocarcinoma, acinar neoplasm, prostatic acinar neoplasm of low malignant potential [PAN-LMP], prostatic acinar neoplasm of uncertain malignant potential), disease (cancer, neoplasm, tumor, growth), management decision (treatment, AS), and recurrence risk (6%, 3%, 1%, <1%). Influence on scenario selection were estimated by conditional logit models and marginal rates of substitution. Two additional validation vignettes with scenarios portraying identical descriptors except the management options were embedded into the discrete choice experiments. RESULTS Across cohorts (194 healthy men, 159 partners, and 159 patients), noncancer labels PAN-LMP or prostatic acinar neoplasm of uncertain malignant potential and neoplasm, tumor, or growth were favored over adenocarcinoma and cancer (P < .01), respectively. Switching adenocarcinoma and cancer labels to PAN-LMP and growth, respectively, increased AS choice by up to 17%: healthy men (15%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 10% to 20%, from 76% to 91%, P < .001), partners (17%, 95% CI = 12% to 24%, from 65% to 82%, P < .001), and patients (7%, 95% CI = 4% to 12%, from 75% to 82%, P = .063). The main limitation is the theoretical nature of questions perhaps leading to less realistic choices. CONCLUSIONS "Cancer" labels negatively affect perceptions and decision making regarding GG1. Relabeling (ie, avoiding word "cancer") increases proclivity for AS and would likely improve public health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandro Berlin
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto; Radiation Medicine Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre; TECHNA Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Matthew Ramotar
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto; Radiation Medicine Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre; TECHNA Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Anna T Santiago
- Department of Biostatistics, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Zhihui Liu
- Department of Biostatistics, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Joyce Li
- The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
| | - Howard Wolinsky
- AnCan Active Surveillance Virtual Support Group; The Active Surveillor Newsletter, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Christopher J D Wallis
- Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Mount Sinai Hospital, and University Hospital Network, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Melvin L K Chua
- Divisions of Radiation Oncology and Medical Sciences, National Cancer Centre Singapore; Oncology Academic Programme, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore
| | - Gladell P Paner
- Departments of Pathology and Surgery, University of Chicago. Chicago, IL, USA
| | | | - Matthew R Cooperberg
- Departments of Urology and Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Andrew J Vickers
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - David R Urbach
- Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), Department of Surgery, University of Toronto; Perioperative Services, Women’s College Hospital and Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Scott E Eggener
- Section of Urology, Department of Surgery, The University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chicago, IL, USA
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Kim D, Kim J, Kim H. Distinctive Roles of Medial Prefrontal Cortex Subregions in Strategic Conformity to Social Hierarchy. J Neurosci 2023; 43:6330-6341. [PMID: 37582627 PMCID: PMC10490482 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0549-23.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2023] [Revised: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 08/06/2023] [Indexed: 08/17/2023] Open
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daeeun Kim
- Laboratory of Social and Decision Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
- Department of Psychology, Korea Army Academy at Yeongcheon, Yeongcheon 38900, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Republic of Korea
| | - JuYoung Kim
- Laboratory of Social and Decision Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
| | - Hackjin Kim
- Laboratory of Social and Decision Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
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Haines N, Kvam PD, Turner BM. Explaining the description-experience gap in risky decision-making: learning and memory retention during experience as causal mechanisms. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2023:10.3758/s13415-023-01099-z. [PMID: 37291409 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-023-01099-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
When making decisions based on probabilistic outcomes, people guide their behavior using knowledge gathered through both indirect descriptions and direct experience. Paradoxically, how people obtain information significantly impacts apparent preferences. A ubiquitous example is the description-experience gap: individuals seemingly overweight low probability events when probabilities are described yet underweight them when probabilities must be experienced firsthand. A leading explanation for this fundamental gap in decision-making is that probabilities are weighted differently when learned through description relative to experience, yet a formal theoretical account of the mechanism responsible for such weighting differences remains elusive. We demonstrate how various learning and memory retention models incorporating neuroscientifically motivated learning mechanisms can explain why probability weighting and valuation parameters often are found to vary across description and experience. In a simulation study, we show how learning through experience can lead to systematically biased estimates of probability weighting when using a traditional cumulative prospect theory model. We then use hierarchical Bayesian modeling and Bayesian model comparison to show how various learning and memory retention models capture participants' behavior over and above changes in outcome valuation and probability weighting, accounting for description and experience-based decisions in a within-subject experiment. We conclude with a discussion of how substantive models of psychological processes can lead to insights that heuristic statistical models fail to capture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathaniel Haines
- The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- Bayesian Beginnings LLC, Columbus, USA.
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10
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Na S, Rhoads SA, Yu ANC, Fiore VG, Gu X. Towards a neurocomputational account of social controllability: From models to mental health. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 148:105139. [PMID: 36940889 PMCID: PMC10106443 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2022] [Revised: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 03/15/2023] [Indexed: 03/22/2023]
Abstract
Controllability, or the influence one has over their surroundings, is crucial for decision-making and mental health. Traditionally, controllability is operationalized in sensorimotor terms as one's ability to exercise their actions to achieve an intended outcome (also termed "agency"). However, recent social neuroscience research suggests that humans also assess if and how they can exert influence over other people (i.e., their actions, outcomes, beliefs) to achieve desired outcomes ("social controllability"). In this review, we will synthesize empirical findings and neurocomputational frameworks related to social controllability. We first introduce the concepts of contextual and perceived controllability and their respective relevance for decision-making. Then, we outline neurocomputational frameworks that can be used to model social controllability, with a focus on behavioral economic paradigms and reinforcement learning approaches. Finally, we discuss the implications of social controllability for computational psychiatry research, using delusion and obsession-compulsion as examples. Taken together, we propose that social controllability could be a key area of investigation in future social neuroscience and computational psychiatry research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soojung Na
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States; Center for Computational Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States
| | - Shawn A Rhoads
- Center for Computational Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States
| | - Alessandra N C Yu
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States; Center for Computational Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States
| | - Vincenzo G Fiore
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States; Center for Computational Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States
| | - Xiaosi Gu
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States; Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States; Center for Computational Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States.
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11
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Ogawa A, Kameda T, Nakatani H. Neural Basis of Social Influence of Observing Other's Perception in Dot-Number Estimation. Neuroscience 2023; 515:1-11. [PMID: 36764600 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2023.01.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2022] [Revised: 01/26/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023]
Abstract
Our perceptions and decisions are often implicitly influenced by observing another's actions. However, it is unclear how observing other people's perceptual decisions without interacting with them can engage the processing of self-other discrepancies and change the observer's decisions. In this study, we employed functional magnetic resonance imaging and a computational model to investigate the neural basis of how unilaterally observing the other's perceptual decisions modulated one's own decisions. The experimental task was to discriminate whether the number of presented dots was higher or lower than a reference number. The participants performed the task solely while unilaterally observing the performance of another "participant," who produced overestimations and underestimations in the same task in separate sessions. Results of the behavioral analysis showed that the participants' decisions were modulated to resemble those of the other. Image analysis based on computational model revealed that the activation in the medial prefrontal cortex was associated with the discrepancy between the inferred participant's and the presented other's decisions. In addition, the number-sensitive region in the superior parietal region showed altered activation patterns after observing the other's overestimations and underestimations. The activity of the superior parietal region was not involved in assessing the observation of other's perceptual decisions, but it was engaged in plain numerosity perception. These results suggest that computational modeling can capture the neuro-behavioral processing of self-other discrepancies in perception followed by the activity modulation in the number-sensitive region in the task of dot-number estimation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akitoshi Ogawa
- Faculty of Medicine, Juntendo University, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan; Brain Science Institute, Tamagawa University, 6-1-1 Tamagawagakuen, Machida, Tokyo 194-8610, Japan.
| | - Tatsuya Kameda
- Department of Social Psychology, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-0033, Japan; Brain Science Institute, Tamagawa University, 6-1-1 Tamagawagakuen, Machida, Tokyo 194-8610, Japan
| | - Hironori Nakatani
- School of Information and Telecommunication Engineering, Tokai University, 2-3-23, Takanawa, Minato-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan
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12
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Qi Y, Liu Z, Cao S, Han Y, Wang Q, Liu X, Wu H. Social value orientation modulates behavioral and neural responses to social influence. Hum Brain Mapp 2023; 44:3222-3231. [PMID: 36930041 PMCID: PMC10171541 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2022] [Revised: 02/16/2023] [Accepted: 03/01/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Substantial studies have investigated the social influence effect; however, how individuals with different social value orientations (SVOs), prosocials and proselfs, respond to different social influences remains unknown. This study examines the impact of positive and negative social information on the responses of people with different SVOs. A face-attractiveness assessment task was employed to investigate the relationships between influence probability, memory, and event-related potentials of social influence. A significant interactional effect suggested that prosocials and proselfs reacted differently to positive (group rating was more attractive) and negative (group rating was less attractive) social influences. Specifically, proselfs demonstrated significantly higher influence probability, marginally better recall performance, smaller N400, and larger late positive potential on receiving negative influence information than on receiving positive influence information, while prosocials showed no significant differences. Overall, correlations between N400/LPP, influence probability, and recall performance were significant. The above results indicate the modulating role of SVO when responding to social influence. These findings have important implications for understanding how people conform and how prosocial behavior occurs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanyan Qi
- School of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450000, China
| | - Zhihui Liu
- School of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450000, China
| | - Siqi Cao
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK
| | - Yixin Han
- School of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450000, China
| | - Qiong Wang
- School of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450000, China
| | - Xun Liu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
| | - Haiyan Wu
- Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, 999078, China
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13
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Chen X, Liu J, Luo YJ, Feng C. Brain Systems Underlying Fundamental Motivations of Human Social Conformity. Neurosci Bull 2023; 39:328-342. [PMID: 36287291 PMCID: PMC9905476 DOI: 10.1007/s12264-022-00960-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2022] [Accepted: 07/11/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
From birth to adulthood, we often align our behaviors, attitudes, and opinions with a majority, a phenomenon known as social conformity. A seminal framework has proposed that conformity behaviors are mainly driven by three fundamental motives: a desire to gain more information to be accurate, to obtain social approval from others, and to maintain a favorable self-concept. Despite extensive interest in neuroimaging investigation of social conformity, the relationship between brain systems and these fundamental motivations has yet to be established. Here, we reviewed brain imaging findings of social conformity with a componential framework, aiming to reveal the neuropsychological substrates underlying different conformity motivations. First, information-seeking engages the evaluation of social information, information integration, and modification of task-related activity, corresponding to brain networks implicated in reward, cognitive control, and tasks at hand. Second, social acceptance involves the anticipation of social acceptance or rejection and mental state attribution, mediated by networks of reward, punishment, and mentalizing. Third, self-enhancement entails the excessive representation of positive self-related information and suppression of negative self-related information, ingroup favoritism and/or outgroup derogation, and elaborated mentalizing processes to the ingroup, supported by brain systems of reward, punishment, and mentalizing. Therefore, recent brain imaging studies have provided important insights into the fundamental motivations of social conformity in terms of component processes and brain mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinling Chen
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, 510631, China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Jiaxi Liu
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, 510631, China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Yue-Jia Luo
- Department of Applied Psychology, University of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Qingdao, 266113, China.
- The State Key Lab of Cognitive and Learning, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
- The Research Center of Brain Science and Visual Cognition, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650506, China.
- College of Teacher Education, Qilu Normal University, Jinan, 250200, China.
| | - Chunliang Feng
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, 510631, China.
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China.
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China.
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China.
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14
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Jiang Y, Marcowski P, Ryazanov A, Winkielman P. People conform to social norms when gambling with lives or money. Sci Rep 2023; 13:853. [PMID: 36646767 PMCID: PMC9842616 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-27462-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2022] [Accepted: 01/02/2023] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Many consider moral decisions to follow an internal "moral compass", resistant to social pressures. Here we examine how social influence shapes moral decisions under risk, and how it operates in different decision contexts. We employed an adapted Asian Disease Paradigm where participants chose between certain losses/gains and probabilistic losses/gains in a series of moral (lives) or financial (money) decisions. We assessed participants' own risk preferences before and after exposing them to social norms that are generally risk-averse or risk-seeking. Our results showed that participants robustly shifted their own choices towards the observed risk preferences. This conformity holds even after a re-testing in three days. Interestingly, in the monetary domain, risk-averse norms have more influence on choices in the loss frame, whereas risk-seeking norms have more influence in the gain frame, presumably because norms that contradict default behavior are most informative. In the moral domain, risk-averse as opposed to risk-seeking norms are more effective in the loss frame but in the gain frame different norms are equally effective. Taken together, our results demonstrate conformity in risk preferences across contexts and highlight unique features of decisions and conformity in moral and monetary domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yueyi Jiang
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
| | - Przemysław Marcowski
- Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Arseny Ryazanov
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Piotr Winkielman
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.,Department of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland
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15
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Mori T, Nagata T, Ikegami K, Hino A, Tateishi S, Tsuji M, Matsuda S, Fujino Y, Mori K, Ando H, Eguchi H, Muramatsu K, Mafune K, Okawara M, Kuwamura M, Matsugaki R, Ishimaru T, Igarashi Y. Effect of COVID-19 infection related experiences on social behaviors when a state of emergency is declared: a cohort study. BMC Public Health 2022; 22:2445. [PMID: 36577963 PMCID: PMC9795144 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-022-14864-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2022] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Restricting the movement of the public to gathering places and limiting close physical contact are effective measures against COVID-19 infection. In Japan, states of emergency have been declared in specific prefectures to reduce public movement and control COVID-19 transmission. We investigated how COVID-19 infection related experiences including people with a history of infection, people with a history of close contact, and people whose acquaintances have been infected, affected self-restraint from social behaviors during the second state of emergency in Japan. METHODS A prospective cohort study was conducted among workers aged 20-65 years using data from an internet survey. The baseline survey was conducted on December 22-25, 2020, and a follow-up survey was on February 18-19, 2021. There were 19,051 participants who completed both surveys and were included in the final analysis. We identified eight social behaviors: (1) eating out (4 people or fewer); (2) eating out (5 people or more); (3) gathering with friends and colleagues; (4) day trip; (5) overnight trip (excluding visiting home); (6) visiting home; (7) shopping for daily necessities; and (8) shopping for other than daily necessities. We set self-restraint regarding each social behavior after the second state of emergency was declared in January 2021 as the dependent variable, and COVID-19 infection related experiences as independent variables. Odds ratios were estimated using multilevel logistic regression analyses nested in the prefecture of residence. RESULTS Significant differences by COVID-19 infection related experiences were identified: compared to people without COVID-19 related experiences, people with a history of COVID-19 were less likely self-restraint from most social behaviors. People whose acquaintance had been diagnosed with COVID-19 were significantly more likely to refrain from most social behaviors. There was no significant difference in any social behaviors for people with a history of close contact only. CONCLUSION To maximize the effect of a state of emergency, health authorities should disseminate information for each person in the target population, taking into account potential differences related to the infection related experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takahiro Mori
- grid.271052.30000 0004 0374 5913Department of Occupational Health Practice and Management, Institute of Industrial Ecological Sciences, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, 1-1 Iseigaoka Yahatanishi-Ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 807-8555 Japan
| | - Tomohisa Nagata
- grid.271052.30000 0004 0374 5913Department of Occupational Health Practice and Management, Institute of Industrial Ecological Sciences, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, 1-1 Iseigaoka Yahatanishi-Ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 807-8555 Japan
| | - Kazunori Ikegami
- grid.271052.30000 0004 0374 5913Department of Work Systems and Health, Institute of Industrial Ecological Sciences, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, 1-1 Iseigaoka Yahatanishi-Ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 807-8555 Japan
| | - Ayako Hino
- grid.271052.30000 0004 0374 5913Department of Mental Health, Institute of Industrial Ecological Sciences, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, 1-1 Iseigaoka Yahatanishi-Ku, Kitakyushu , Fukuoka 807-8555 Japan
| | - Seiichiro Tateishi
- grid.271052.30000 0004 0374 5913Disaster Occupational Health Center, Institute of Industrial Ecological Sciences, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, 1-1 Iseigaoka Yahatanishi-Ku, Kitakyushu , Fukuoka 807-8555 Japan
| | - Mayumi Tsuji
- grid.271052.30000 0004 0374 5913Department of Environmental Health, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, 1-1 Iseigaoka Yahatanishi-Ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 807-8555 Japan
| | - Shinya Matsuda
- grid.271052.30000 0004 0374 5913Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, 1-1 Iseigaoka Yahatanishi-Ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 807-8555 Japan
| | - Yoshihisa Fujino
- grid.271052.30000 0004 0374 5913Department of Environmental Epidemiology, Institute of Industrial Ecological Sciences, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, 1-1 Iseigaoka Yahatanishi-Ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 807-8555 Japan
| | - Koji Mori
- grid.271052.30000 0004 0374 5913Department of Occupational Health Practice and Management, Institute of Industrial Ecological Sciences, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, 1-1 Iseigaoka Yahatanishi-Ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 807-8555 Japan
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16
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Liu Q, Zhong R, Ji X, Law S, Xiao F, Wei Y, Fang S, Kong X, Zhang X, Yao S, Wang X. Decision-making biases in suicide attempters with major depressive disorder: A computational modeling study using the balloon analog risk task (BART). Depress Anxiety 2022; 39:845-857. [PMID: 36329675 DOI: 10.1002/da.23291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2022] [Revised: 09/30/2022] [Accepted: 10/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND In the last decade, suicidality has been increasingly theorized as a distinct phenomenon from major depressive disorder (MDD), with unique psychological and neural mechanisms, rather than being mostly a severe symptom of MDD. Although decision-making biases have been widely reported in suicide attempters with MDD, little is known regarding what components of these biases can be distinguished from depressiveness itself. METHODS Ninety-three patients with current MDD (40 with suicide attempts [SA group] and 53 without suicide attempts [NS group]) and 65 healthy controls (HCs) completed psychometric assessments and the balloon analog risk task (BART). To analyze and compare decision-making components among the three groups, we applied a five-parameter Bayesian computational modeling. RESULTS Psychological assessments showed that the SA group had greater suicidal ideation and psychological pain avoidance than the NS group. Computational modeling showed that both MDD groups had higher risk preference and lower ability to learn and adapt from within-task observations than HCs, without differences between the SA and NS patient groups. The SA group also had higher loss aversion than the NS and HC groups, which had similar loss aversion. CONCLUSIONS Our BART and computational modeling findings suggest that psychological pain avoidance and loss aversion may be important suicide risk factor that are distinguishable from depression illness itself.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qinyu Liu
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.,China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Runqing Zhong
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.,China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Xinlei Ji
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.,China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Samuel Law
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Ontario, Toronto, Canada
| | - Fan Xiao
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.,China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Yiming Wei
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Shulin Fang
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.,China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Xinyuan Kong
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.,China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Xiaocui Zhang
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.,China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Shuqiao Yao
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.,China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Xiang Wang
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.,China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan, China
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17
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Fareri DS, Stasiak JE, Sokol-Hessner P. Choosing for others changes dissociable computational mechanisms underpinning risky decision-making. Sci Rep 2022; 12:14361. [PMID: 35999449 PMCID: PMC9399086 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-18437-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 08/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Choices under risk often have consequences for ourselves and others. Yet, it is unclear how the other's identity (stranger, close friend, etc.) influences risky choices made on their behalf. In a mixed within and between subjects design, two participant groups made three series of risky economic decisions: for themselves, another person, or for both themselves and another person (i.e., shared outcomes). One group made choices involving a same-sex stranger (n = 29), the other made choices involving a same-sex close friend (n = 28). Hierarchical Bayesian estimation of computations underlying risky decision-making revealed that relative to choosing for themselves, people were more risk averse, loss averse, and consistent when choices involved another person. Partner identity was additionally crucial: people became risk neutral and more consistent when choosing for friends relative to strangers. These findings establish that the complexity of the social world is mirrored in its nuanced consequences for our choices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dominic S Fareri
- Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology, Adelphi University, Blodgett Hall, Rm. 212C, 1 South Avenue, Garden City, NY, 11530, USA.
| | - Joanne E Stasiak
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
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18
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Toyokawa W, Gaissmaier W. Conformist social learning leads to self-organised prevention against adverse bias in risky decision making. eLife 2022; 11:75308. [PMID: 35535494 PMCID: PMC9090329 DOI: 10.7554/elife.75308] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2021] [Accepted: 04/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Given the ubiquity of potentially adverse behavioural bias owing to myopic trial-and-error learning, it seems paradoxical that improvements in decision-making performance through conformist social learning, a process widely considered to be bias amplification, still prevail in animal collective behaviour. Here we show, through model analyses and large-scale interactive behavioural experiments with 585 human subjects, that conformist influence can indeed promote favourable risk taking in repeated experience-based decision making, even though many individuals are systematically biased towards adverse risk aversion. Although strong positive feedback conferred by copying the majority's behaviour could result in unfavourable informational cascades, our differential equation model of collective behavioural dynamics identified a key role for increasing exploration by negative feedback arising when a weak minority influence undermines the inherent behavioural bias. This 'collective behavioural rescue', emerging through coordination of positive and negative feedback, highlights a benefit of collective learning in a broader range of environmental conditions than previously assumed and resolves the ostensible paradox of adaptive collective behavioural flexibility under conformist influences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wataru Toyokawa
- Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Gaissmaier
- Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz,, Konstanz, Germany
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19
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Lin Y, Gu R, Zhou J, Li Y, Xu P, Luo YJ. Prefrontal control of social influence in risk decision making. Neuroimage 2022; 257:119265. [PMID: 35526749 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2022] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
To optimize our decisions, we may change our mind by utilizing social information. Here, we examined how changes of mind were modulated by Social Misalignment Sensitivity (SMS), egocentric tendency, and decision preferences in a decision-making paradigm including both risk and social information. Combining functional magnetic resonance imaging with computational modeling, we showed that both SMS and egocentric tendency modulated changes of mind under the influence of social information. While SMS was represented in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and superior parietal gyrus (SPG) in the socially aligned situation, a distributed brain network was activated in the misaligned condition, including not only the dACC and SPG but also superior frontal gyrus and precuneus. These results suggest that SMS is related to a monitoring brain system, the scope of which varies according to the level of misalignment with social majority. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex selectively interacted with SMS among the participants with a low switching threshold, indicating that its regulation on SMS may be sensitive to inter-individual variation. Our findings highlight the predominant roles of SMS and the prefrontal control system towards changes of mind under social influence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yongling Lin
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
| | - Ruolei Gu
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Jiali Zhou
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Neuroscience, Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, Center for Brain Disorder and Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518061, China
| | - Yiman Li
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Neuroscience, Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, Center for Brain Disorder and Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518061, China
| | - Pengfei Xu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (BNU), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
| | - Yue-Jia Luo
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Neuroscience, Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, Center for Brain Disorder and Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518061, China.
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20
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Lee H, Chung D. Characterization of the Core Determinants of Social Influence From a Computational and Cognitive Perspective. Front Psychiatry 2022; 13:846535. [PMID: 35509882 PMCID: PMC9059935 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.846535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2021] [Accepted: 03/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Most human decisions are made among social others, and in what social context the choices are made is known to influence individuals' decisions. Social influence has been noted as an important factor that may nudge individuals to take more risks (e.g., initiation of substance use), but ironically also help individuals to take safer actions (e.g., successful abstinence). Such bi-directional impacts of social influence hint at the complexity of social information processing. Here, we first review the recent computational approaches that shed light on neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying social influence following basic computations involved in decision-making: valuation, action selection, and learning. We next review the studies on social influence from various fields including neuroeconomics, developmental psychology, social psychology, and cognitive neuroscience, and highlight three dimensions of determinants-who are the recipients, how the social contexts are presented, and to what domains and processes of decisions the influence is applied-that modulate the extent to which individuals are influenced by others. Throughout the review, we also introduce the brain regions that were suggested as neural instantiations of social influence from a large body of functional neuroimaging studies. Finally, we outline the remaining questions to be addressed in the translational application of computational and cognitive theories of social influence to psychopathology and health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyeji Lee
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan, South Korea.,Department of Psychology, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Dongil Chung
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan, South Korea
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21
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Seres G, Balleyer AH, Cerutti N, Danilov A, Friedrichsen J, Liu Y, Süer M. Face masks increase compliance with physical distancing recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic. JOURNAL OF THE ECONOMIC SCIENCE ASSOCIATION 2021. [PMCID: PMC8590132 DOI: 10.1007/s40881-021-00108-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
AbstractGovernments across the world have implemented restrictive policies to slow the spread of COVID-19. Recommended face mask use has been a controversially discussed policy, among others, due to potential adverse effects on physical distancing. Using a randomized field experiment (N = 300), we show that individuals kept a significantly larger distance from someone wearing a face mask than from an unmasked person during the early days of the pandemic. According to an additional survey experiment (N = 456) conducted at the time, masked individuals were not perceived as being more infectious than unmasked ones, but they were believed to prefer more distancing. This result suggests that wearing a mask served as a social signal that led others to increase the distance they kept. Our findings provide evidence against the claim that mask use creates a false sense of security that would negatively affect physical distancing. Furthermore, our results suggest that behavior has informational content that may be affected by policies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gyula Seres
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Spandauer Strasse 1, Berlin, 10178 Germany
| | | | - Nicola Cerutti
- Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change, Torgauer Str. 19, Berlin, 10829 Germany
| | - Anastasia Danilov
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Spandauer Strasse 1, Berlin, 10178 Germany
- Einstein Center Digital Future, Wilhelmstraße 67, Berlin, 10117 Germany
| | - Jana Friedrichsen
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Spandauer Strasse 1, Berlin, 10178 Germany
- WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Reichpietschufer 50, Berlin, 10785 Germany
- Free University of Berlin, Boltzmannstraße 20, Berlin, 14195 Germany
- DIW, Mohrenstrasse 58, Berlin, 10117 Germany
| | - Yiming Liu
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Spandauer Strasse 1, Berlin, 10178 Germany
- WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Reichpietschufer 50, Berlin, 10785 Germany
| | - Müge Süer
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Spandauer Strasse 1, Berlin, 10178 Germany
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22
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Braams BR, Davidow JY, Somerville LH. Information about others' choices selectively alters risk tolerance and medial prefrontal cortex activation across adolescence and young adulthood. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2021; 52:101039. [PMID: 34808573 PMCID: PMC8607164 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2021.101039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2021] [Revised: 11/01/2021] [Accepted: 11/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Adolescence is associated with major changes in the cognitive, emotional and social domains. One domain in which these processes intersect is decision-making. Previous research has shown that individuals' attitudes towards risk and ambiguity shape their decision-making, and information about others' choices can influence individuals' decisions. However, it is currently unknown how information about others' choices influences risk and ambiguity attitudes separately, and the degree to which others' choices shape decision-making differentially across development from adolescence to young adulthood. The current study used a computational modeling framework to test how information about others' choices influences these attitudes. Participants, aged 14-22 years, made a series of risky and ambiguous choices while undergoing fMRI scanning. On some trials, they viewed risky or safe choices of others. Results showed that participants aligned their choices toward the choice preferences of others. Moreover, the tendency to align choices was expressed in changes in risk attitude, but not ambiguity attitude. The change in risk attitude was positively related to neural activation in the medial prefrontal cortex. Results did not show age related differences in behavior and corresponding neural activation, indicating that the manner in which adolescents are influenced by peers is not ubiquitous but rather, is highly context-dependent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara R Braams
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA; Department of Clinical, Neuro, and Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Behavioral and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Juliet Y Davidow
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA; Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Leah H Somerville
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
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23
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Na S, Chung D, Hula A, Perl O, Jung J, Heflin M, Blackmore S, Fiore VG, Dayan P, Gu X. Humans use forward thinking to exploit social controllability. eLife 2021; 10:64983. [PMID: 34711304 PMCID: PMC8555988 DOI: 10.7554/elife.64983] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2020] [Accepted: 09/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The controllability of our social environment has a profound impact on our behavior and mental health. Nevertheless, neurocomputational mechanisms underlying social controllability remain elusive. Here, 48 participants performed a task where their current choices either did (Controllable), or did not (Uncontrollable), influence partners’ future proposals. Computational modeling revealed that people engaged a mental model of forward thinking (FT; i.e., calculating the downstream effects of current actions) to estimate social controllability in both Controllable and Uncontrollable conditions. A large-scale online replication study (n=1342) supported this finding. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (n=48), we further demonstrated that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) computed the projected total values of current actions during forward planning, supporting the neural realization of the forward-thinking model. These findings demonstrate that humans use vmPFC-dependent FT to estimate and exploit social controllability, expanding the role of this neurocomputational mechanism beyond spatial and cognitive contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soojung Na
- The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States.,Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States.,Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States
| | - Dongil Chung
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, Republic of Korea
| | - Andreas Hula
- Austrian Institute of Technology, Seibersdorf, Austria
| | - Ofer Perl
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States
| | - Jennifer Jung
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, United States
| | - Matthew Heflin
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States
| | - Sylvia Blackmore
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States.,Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Vincenzo G Fiore
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States
| | - Peter Dayan
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany.,University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Xiaosi Gu
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States.,Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States
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24
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Panizza F, Vostroknutov A, Coricelli G. How conformity can lead to polarised social behaviour. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1009530. [PMID: 34669694 PMCID: PMC8559952 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009530] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Revised: 11/01/2021] [Accepted: 10/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Learning social behaviour of others strongly influences one’s own social attitudes. We compare several distinct explanations of this phenomenon, testing their predictions using computational modelling across four experimental conditions. In the experiment, participants chose repeatedly whether to pay for increasing (prosocial) or decreasing (antisocial) the earnings of an unknown other. Halfway through the task, participants predicted the choices of an extremely prosocial or antisocial agent (either a computer, a single participant, or a group of participants). Our analyses indicate that participants polarise their social attitude mainly due to normative expectations. Specifically, most participants conform to presumed demands by the authority (vertical influence), or because they learn that the observed human agents follow the norm very closely (horizontal influence). What drives people to extreme acts of generosity? What causes behaviour that is unduly spiteful? This study explored how our social decisions polarise. Participants chose whether to spend money to increase or decrease the earnings of an unknown person. Halfway through this task, they observed another agent playing. The agent took participants’ choices to the extremes: if for instance the participant was moderately generous, it spent considerable sums to help the other. Participants conformed regardless of whether the agent was a computer algorithm, a person, or a group of people. We tested several competing explanations of why this happened with the help of cognitive modelling. Our analyses identify two factors behind polarisation: willingness to comply with the experimenter expectations (social desirability), and concern about appropriate behaviour (norm conformity). Our approach provided insight into how social choices are influenced by others, and could be applied in the study of conformity in other types of decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Folco Panizza
- Molecular Mind Laboratory, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Italy
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Mattarello (TN), Italy
- * E-mail:
| | | | - Giorgio Coricelli
- Department of Economics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
- LaPsyDÉ, UMR CNRS 8240, La Sorbonne, Paris, France
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25
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Ciranka S, van den Bos W. Adolescent risk-taking in the context of exploration and social influence. DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2021.100979] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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26
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Austin JE, Lang AC, Nacker AM, Wallace AL, Schwebel DC, Brown BB, Davies WH. Adolescent Experiences with Self-Asphyxial Behaviors and Problematic Drinking in Emerging Adulthood. Glob Pediatr Health 2021; 8:2333794X211037985. [PMID: 34377748 PMCID: PMC8326619 DOI: 10.1177/2333794x211037985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2021] [Accepted: 07/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Self-asphyxial behavior to achieve a euphoric high (The Choking Game; TCG), occurs most often during early adolescence. Participants in TCG often engage in other risky behaviors. This study investigated the relationship between prior experience with TCG and problematic drinking behaviors in emerging adulthood. Emerging adults, 18 to 25 years old (N = 1248), 56% female, and 78% Caucasian completed an online survey regarding knowledge of and prior engagement in TCG and current drinking behaviors. Participants who personally engaged in TCG during childhood/adolescence or were familiar with TCG reported significantly more problematic drinking behaviors during emerging adulthood. Those present when others engaged in TCG but resisted participation themselves reported significantly less current problematic drinking behaviors than those who participated, but significantly more current problematic drinking behaviors than those never present. Emerging adults with increased social familiarity with TCG during adolescence endorsed greater problematic drinking behaviors. Results suggest resistance skills may generalize across time/activities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jillian E. Austin
- Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
- University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Amy C. Lang
- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA
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27
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Lin Y, Gu R, Luan S, Hu L, Qin S, Luo YJ. The hierarchical sensitivity to social misalignment during decision-making under uncertainty. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 16:565-575. [PMID: 33615385 PMCID: PMC8138082 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsab022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Revised: 01/18/2021] [Accepted: 02/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Social misalignment occurs when a person’s attitudes and opinions deviate from those of others. We investigated how individuals react to social misalignment in risky (outcome probabilities are known) or ambiguous (outcome probabilities are unknown) decision contexts. During each trial, participants played a forced-choice gamble, and they observed the decisions of four other players after they made a tentative decision, followed by an opportunity to keep or change their initial decision. Behavioral and event-related potential data were collected. Behaviorally, the stronger the participants’ initial preference, the less likely they were to switch their decisions, whereas the more their decisions were misaligned with the majority, the more likely they were to switch. Electrophysiological results showed a hierarchical processing pattern of social misalignment. Misalignment was first detected binarily (i.e. match/mismatch) at an early stage, as indexed by the N1 component. During the second stage, participants became sensitive to low levels of misalignment, which were indexed by the feedback-related negativity. The degree of social misalignment was processed in greater detail, as indexed by the P3 component. Moreover, such hierarchical neural sensitivity is generalizable across different decision contexts (i.e. risky and ambiguous). These findings demonstrate a fine-grained neural sensitivity to social misalignment during decision-making under uncertainty.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yongling Lin
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Ruolei Gu
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Shenghua Luan
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Li Hu
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Shaozheng Qin
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yue-Jia Luo
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,Center for Brain Disorder and Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518061, China.,College of Teacher Education, Qilu Normal University, Jinan, Shandong 250200, China.,The Research Center of Brain Science and Visual Cognition, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650504, China
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28
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Osmont A, Camarda A, Habib M, Cassotti M. Peers' Choices Influence Adolescent Risk-taking Especially When Explicit Risk Information is Lacking. JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE 2021; 31:402-416. [PMID: 33675265 DOI: 10.1111/jora.12611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
This study examines the impact of peers' previous cautious versus risky choices on adolescents' risk-taking depending on the level of information about the risk. Adolescents completed an adaptation of the BART that manipulated social influence (cautious and risky) and risk information (i.e., informed, noninformed). Results showed that social influence impacts adolescents' decisions on the noninformed BART but not on the informed BART. In the noninformed BART, the peers' cautious choices strongly decreased risk-taking and led to greater performance. The peers' risky choices increase adolescents' risk-taking, but this effect is limited to situations involving minimal risk. Thus social experience may be a specific social context that represents a valuable source of information during adolescence, especially in situations with high uncertainty.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anaïs Osmont
- Center for Research on the Psychology of Knowledge, Language and Emotion (PsyCLE-EA3273), Aix Marseille University, France
| | - Anaëlle Camarda
- Center for management science (CGS), i3 UMR CNRS, MINES ParisTech, PSL University, Paris, France
| | - Marianne Habib
- DysCo Lab, Paris 8 University, COMUE Paris Lumières (UPL), Saint-Denis, France
| | - Mathieu Cassotti
- Laboratory for the Psychology of Child Development and Education (CNRS Unit 8240), Paris Descartes University - Sorbonne Paris Cité & Caen University, Paris, France
- Institut Universitaire de France
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29
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Yu H, Siegel JZ, Clithero JA, Crockett MJ. How peer influence shapes value computation in moral decision-making. Cognition 2021; 211:104641. [PMID: 33740537 PMCID: PMC8085736 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104641] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2020] [Revised: 02/17/2021] [Accepted: 02/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Moral behavior is susceptible to peer influence. How does information from peers influence moral preferences? We used drift-diffusion modeling to show that peer influence changes the value of moral behavior by prioritizing the choice attributes that align with peers' goals. Study 1 (N = 100; preregistered) showed that participants accurately inferred the goals of prosocial and antisocial peers when observing their moral decisions. In Study 2 (N = 68), participants made moral decisions before and after observing the decisions of a prosocial or antisocial peer. Peer observation caused participants' own preferences to resemble those of their peers. This peer influence effect on value computation manifested as an increased weight on choice attributes promoting the peers' goals that occurred independently from peer influence on initial choice bias. Participants' self-reported awareness of influence tracked more closely with computational measures of prosocial than antisocial influence. Our findings have implications for bolstering and blocking the effects of prosocial and antisocial influence on moral behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongbo Yu
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
| | | | - John A Clithero
- Lundquist College of Business, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA
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30
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Chung D, Orloff MA, Lauharatanahirun N, Chiu PH, King-Casas B. Valuation of peers' safe choices is associated with substance-naïveté in adolescents. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:31729-31737. [PMID: 33257568 PMCID: PMC7749349 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1919111117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Social influences on decision-making are particularly pronounced during adolescence and have both protective and detrimental effects. To evaluate how responsiveness to social signals may be linked to substance use in adolescents, we used functional neuroimaging and a gambling task in which adolescents who have and have not used substances (substance-exposed and substance-naïve, respectively) made choices alone and after observing peers' decisions. Using quantitative model-based analyses, we identify behavioral and neural evidence that observing others' safe choices increases the subjective value and selection of safe options for substance-naïve relative to substance-exposed adolescents. Moreover, the effects of observing others' risky choices do not vary by substance exposure. These results provide neurobehavioral evidence for a role of positive peers (here, those who make safer choices) in guiding adolescent real-world risky decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongil Chung
- Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Virginia Tech, Roanoke, VA 24016
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan 44919, South Korea
| | - Mark A Orloff
- Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Virginia Tech, Roanoke, VA 24016
- Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health Graduate Program, Virginia Tech, Roanoke, VA 24016
| | - Nina Lauharatanahirun
- Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Virginia Tech, Roanoke, VA 24016
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061
| | - Pearl H Chiu
- Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Virginia Tech, Roanoke, VA 24016;
- Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health Graduate Program, Virginia Tech, Roanoke, VA 24016
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061
| | - Brooks King-Casas
- Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Virginia Tech, Roanoke, VA 24016;
- Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health Graduate Program, Virginia Tech, Roanoke, VA 24016
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061
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31
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Affective evaluation of others' altruistic decisions under risk and ambiguity. Neuroimage 2020; 218:116996. [PMID: 32470571 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116996] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2020] [Revised: 05/19/2020] [Accepted: 05/22/2020] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Gratitude arises when one is the target of an altruistic decision, particularly when this decision incurs cost to the agent. Here we examined how individuals evaluate others' altruistic decisions under risky (uncertainty with known probabilities) and ambiguous (uncertainty with unknown probabilities) costs and respond with gratitude and reciprocity. Participants played an interactive game in an fMRI scanner in which they would receive painful electric shocks. An anonymous co-player either intentionally (Human conditions) or unintentionally (Computer conditions) decided whether to help the participant reduce half of the pain by undertaking an amount of pain (i.e., cost) with varying level of uncertainty (Certain vs. Risky vs. Ambiguous). Participants could then transfer monetary points to the co-player knowing that the co-player was unaware of this transfer. Behaviorally, monetary allocation and gratitude rating increased as the uncertainty level of cost increased in Human conditions; these effects were reduced in Computer conditions. The effect of cost uncertainty on gratitude was mediated by the perceived kind intention behind the help. FMRI revealed both shared and differential neurocognitive substrates for evaluating the benefactor's altruistic decisions under risk and ambiguity: both were associated with fear- and anxiety-related processes, involving right lateral orbitofrontal cortex and anterior insula; ambiguity additionally recruited mentalizing- and conflict monitoring-related processes, involving dorsal medial prefrontal cortex and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. These findings underscore the crucial role of social uncertainty perception in the generation of gratitude.
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32
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Kim-Spoon J, Deater-Deckard K, Brieant A, Lauharatanahirun N, Lee J, King-Casas B. Brains of a feather flocking together? Peer and individual neurobehavioral risks for substance use across adolescence. Dev Psychopathol 2019; 31:1661-1674. [PMID: 31387665 PMCID: PMC7373672 DOI: 10.1017/s0954579419001056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2019] [Revised: 05/12/2019] [Accepted: 05/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Adolescence is a period of heightened susceptibility to peer influences, and deviant peer affiliation has well-established implications for the development of psychopathology. However, little is known about the role of brain functions in pathways connecting peer contexts and health risk behaviors. We tested developmental cascade models to evaluate contributions of adolescent risk taking, peer influences, and neurobehavioral variables of risk processing and cognitive control to substance use among 167 adolescents who were assessed annually for four years. Risk taking at Time 1 was related to substance use at Time 4 indirectly through peer substance use at Time 2 and insular activation during risk processing at Time 3. Furthermore, neural cognitive control moderated these effects. Greater insular activation during risk processing was related to higher substance use for those with greater medial prefrontal cortex activation during cognitive control, but it was related to lower substance use among those with lower medial prefrontal cortex activation during cognitive control. Neural processes related to risk processing and cognitive control play a crucial role in the processes linking risk taking, peer substance use, and adolescents' own substance use.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kirby Deater-Deckard
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA
| | - Alexis Brieant
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Nina Lauharatanahirun
- U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Jacob Lee
- Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Roanoke, VA, USA
| | - Brooks King-Casas
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
- Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Roanoke, VA, USA
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33
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Ciranka S, van den Bos W. Social Influence in Adolescent Decision-Making: A Formal Framework. Front Psychol 2019; 10:1915. [PMID: 31555164 PMCID: PMC6727856 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01915] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2019] [Accepted: 08/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Adolescence is a period of life during which peers play a pivotal role in decision-making. The narrative of social influence during adolescence often revolves around risky and maladaptive decisions, like driving under the influence, and using illegal substances (Steinberg, 2005). However, research has also shown that social influence can lead to increased prosocial behaviors (Van Hoorn et al., 2017) and a reduction in risk-taking (Braams et al., 2019). While many studies support the notion that adolescents are more sensitive to peer influence than children or adults, the developmental processes that underlie this sensitivity remain poorly understood. We argue that one important reason for this lack of understanding is the absence of precisely formulated models. To make a first step toward formal models of social influence during adolescence, we first identify three prominent verbal models of social influence in the literature: (1) social motivation, (2) reward sensitivity, and (3) distraction. We then illustrate how these can be translated into formal models, and how such formal models can inform experimental design and help identify developmental processes. Finally, by applying our formal models to existing datasets, we demonstrate the usefulness of formalization by synthesizing different studies with seemingly disparate results. We conclude with a discussion on how formal modeling can be utilized to better investigate the development of peer influence in adolescence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Ciranka
- Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany
| | - Wouter van den Bos
- Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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34
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Keckler M, Anderson K, McAllister S, Rasheed J, Noble-Wang J. Development and implementation of evidence-based laboratory safety management tools for a public health laboratory. SAFETY SCIENCE 2019; 117:205-216. [PMID: 31156293 PMCID: PMC6537614 DOI: 10.1016/j.ssci.2019.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
We developed an evidence-based continuous quality improvement (CQI) cycle for laboratory safety as a method of utilizing survey data to improve safety in a public health laboratory setting. • Expert Opinion: The CQI cycle begins with the solicitation of laboratory staff input via an annual survey addressing potential chemical, physical and radiological hazards associated with multiple laboratory activities. The survey collects frequency, severity and exposure data related to these activities in the context of the most pathogenic organisms handled at least weekly. • Gap Analysis: Step 2 of the CQI cycle used survey data to identify areas needing improvement. Typically, the traditional two-dimensional risk assessment matrix is used to prioritize mitigations. However, we added an additional dimension - frequency of exposure - to create three-dimensional risk maps to better inform and communicate risk priorities. • Mitigation Measures: Step 3 of the CQI cycle was to use these results to develop mitigations. This included evaluating the identified risks to determine what risk control measures (elimination, substitution, engineering, administrative or PPE) were needed. In the 2016 iteration of the CQI cycle described here, all mitigations were based on administrative controls. • Evaluation and Feedback: The last step of the CQI cycle was to evaluate the inferred effects of interventions through subsequent surveys, allowing for qualitative assessment of intervention effectiveness while simultaneously restarting the cycle by identifying new hazards. Here we describe the tools used to drive this CQI cycle, including the survey tool, risk analysis method, design of interventions and inference of mitigation effectiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- M.S. Keckler
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging Zoonotic and Infectious Diseases, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Clinical and Environmental Microbiology Branch, United States
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology and Laboratory Services, Laboratory Leadership Service Fellowship, United States
| | - K. Anderson
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging Zoonotic and Infectious Diseases, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Clinical and Environmental Microbiology Branch, United States
| | - S. McAllister
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging Zoonotic and Infectious Diseases, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Clinical and Environmental Microbiology Branch, United States
| | - J.K. Rasheed
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging Zoonotic and Infectious Diseases, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Clinical and Environmental Microbiology Branch, United States
| | - J. Noble-Wang
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging Zoonotic and Infectious Diseases, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Clinical and Environmental Microbiology Branch, United States
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35
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Jamali M, Grannan B, Haroush K, Moses ZB, Eskandar EN, Herrington T, Patel S, Williams ZM. Dorsolateral prefrontal neurons mediate subjective decisions and their variation in humans. Nat Neurosci 2019; 22:1010-1020. [PMID: 31011224 PMCID: PMC6535118 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-019-0378-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2018] [Accepted: 03/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Subjective decisions play a vital role in human behavior because, while often grounded in fact, they are inherently based on personal beliefs that can vary broadly within and between individuals. While these properties set subjective decisions apart from many other sensorimotor processes and are of wide sociological impact, their single-neuronal basis in humans is unknown. Here we find cells in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) that reflect variations in the subjective decisions of humans when performing opinion-based tasks. These neurons changed their activities gradually as the participants transitioned between choice options but also reflected their unique point of conversion at equipoise. Focal disruption of the dlPFC, by contrast, diminished gradation between opposing decisions but had little effect on sensory perceptual choices or their motor report. These findings suggest that the human dlPFC plays an important role in subjective decisions and propose a mechanism for mediating their variation during opinion formation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohsen Jamali
- Department of Neurosurgery, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ben Grannan
- Department of Neurosurgery, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Keren Haroush
- Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA
| | - Ziev B Moses
- Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Emad N Eskandar
- Department of Neurosurgery, Albert Einstein University, Bronx, NY, USA
| | - Todd Herrington
- Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Shaun Patel
- Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ziv M Williams
- Department of Neurosurgery, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
- Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Harvard Medical School, Program in Neuroscience, Boston, MA, USA.
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36
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Wei S, Liu Q, Harrington M, Sun J, Yu H, Han J, Hao M, Wu H, Liu X. Nonconformist tendencies related to risky choices in female methamphetamine abstainers. THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE 2019; 46:68-77. [PMID: 31120769 DOI: 10.1080/00952990.2019.1608554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Background: Many experimental studies and theoretical models have tried to explain the multifaceted formation of drug addiction. In most addiction models, social factors are an important component; however, few empirical studies have investigated the social influences on the safe or risky choices of drug-addicted individuals during the abstinence stage. Objectives: To investigate the behavioral patterns of female methamphetamine abstainers under social influence. Methods: Thirty-seven female methamphetamine abstainers (average abstinence time: 8.61 ± 4.75 months) and 40 matched controls performed a gambling task in the presence of peers' choices. We applied both model-free and computational model-based analysis to examine how the decision patterns differed with social influence between the two groups. Results: 1) the choice data from the two groups showed a social influence effect such that participants made more risky choices when others made risky choices; 2) overall, the female methamphetamine abstainers made more risky choices in the social influence task; and 3) in the computational model parameters, the female methamphetamine abstainers exhibited more nonconforming attitudes (with negative other-conferred utility) with respect to peer influence, whereas controls showed higher conformity to peers. Conclusion: Our findings provide the first objective evidence that female methamphetamine abstainers show peer nonconformity. This nonconformist tendency may be a potential behavioral marker to track drug addiction and help to elucidate the mechanisms of decisions made by female methamphetamine abstainers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuguang Wei
- Faculty of Education, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
| | - Quanying Liu
- Division of Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.,Molecular Neurology Program, Huntington Medical Research Institutes, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Michael Harrington
- Molecular Neurology Program, Huntington Medical Research Institutes, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Jinxiu Sun
- Department of Sports, Jishou University, Jishou, China
| | - Hao Yu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China.,Sino Danish College, Univerisity of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jie Han
- Department of Education, Hebei Female Drug Rehabilitation Center, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China
| | - Ming Hao
- Department of Education, Hebei Female Drug Rehabilitation Center, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China
| | - Haiyan Wu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Xun Liu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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37
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Feng C, Cao J, Li Y, Wu H, Mobbs D. The pursuit of social acceptance: aberrant conformity in social anxiety disorder. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2019; 13:809-817. [PMID: 29986075 PMCID: PMC6123523 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsy052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2018] [Accepted: 06/28/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The defining pathological features of social anxiety disorder primarily concern the social landscape, yet few empirical studies have examined the potentially aberrant behavioral and neural patterns in this population using socially interactive paradigms. We addressed this issue by investigating the behavioral and neural patterns associated with social conformity in patients with social anxiety disorder. We recorded event-related potentials when healthy subjects (n = 19), and patients with social anxiety disorder (n = 20) made attractiveness judgements of unfamiliar others, while at the same time, being exposed to congruent/incongruent peer ratings. Afterwards, participants were asked to rerate the same faces without the presence of peer ratings. When compared with healthy controls, social anxiety disorder patients exhibited more positive attitudes to unfamiliar others and conformed more with peers-higher feedback. These behavioral effects were in parallel with neural responses associated with social conflict in the N400 signal, showing higher conformity to peers-higher feedback compared with peers-lower or peers-agree feedback among social anxiety disorder patients. Our findings provide evidence on the behavioral and neural patterns of social anxiety disorder during social interactions, and support the hypothesis that individuals with social anxiety disorder are more motivated to pursue social acceptance and possibly avoid social rejection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunliang Feng
- College of Information Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, China.,State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Jianqin Cao
- Department of Nursing, Harbin Medical University, Daqing, China
| | - Yingli Li
- Department of Nursing, Harbin Medical University, Daqing, China
| | - Haiyan Wu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Division of Humanities and Social Sciences and Computation and Neural Systems Program, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Dean Mobbs
- Division of Humanities and Social Sciences and Computation and Neural Systems Program, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
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38
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Hu Y, He L, Zhang L, Wölk T, Dreher JC, Weber B. Spreading inequality: neural computations underlying paying-it-forward reciprocity. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2019; 13:578-589. [PMID: 29897606 PMCID: PMC6022566 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsy040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2017] [Accepted: 05/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
People tend to pay the generosity they receive from a person forward to someone else even if they have no chance to reciprocate directly. This phenomenon, known as paying-it-forward (PIF) reciprocity, crucially contributes to the maintenance of a cooperative human society by passing kindness among strangers and has been widely studied in evolutionary biology. To further examine its neural implementation and underlying computations, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging together with computational modeling. In a modified PIF paradigm, participants first received a monetary split (i.e. greedy, equal or generous) from either a human partner or a computer. They then chose between two options involving additional amounts of money to be allocated between themselves and an uninvolved person. Behaviorally, people forward the previously received greed/generosity towards a third person. The social impact of previous treatments is integrated into computational signals in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the right temporoparietal junction during subsequent decision making. Our findings provide insights to understand the proximal origin of PIF reciprocity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Hu
- Center for Economics and Neuroscience, University of Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany
| | - Lisheng He
- Warwick Business School, The University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
| | - Lei Zhang
- Institute for System Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Thorben Wölk
- Center for Economics and Neuroscience, University of Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany
| | - Jean-Claude Dreher
- Neuroeconomics, Reward and Decision Making Laboratory, Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS, 69675 Bron, France
| | - Bernd Weber
- Center for Economics and Neuroscience, University of Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany.,Department of Epileptology, University Hospital Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany
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39
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The effect of active and passive peer encouragement on adolescent risk-taking. J Adolesc 2018; 71:10-17. [PMID: 30583201 DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2018.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2018] [Revised: 12/14/2018] [Accepted: 12/15/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION In this experiment, we investigated the effect of active (pressure) and passive (imitation) peer encouragement on adolescent risk-taking and assessed gender differences. METHOD The participants performed the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) with the same-sex e-confederate. The experiment consisted of a 2 (passive encouragement: no/yes updates about the number of pumps of the e-confederate) by 2 (active encouragement: no/yes messages received from the e-confederate) by 2 (gender: girls/boys) by 3 (time: baseline/first message or update/second message or update) mixed design. The participants comprised 138 Dutch secondary-school students aged 11-19 years old of whom 46% boys. They were assigned to one of the four conditions: 1. neutral (e-confederate present), 2. passive (two updates received), 3. active (two messages received), or 4. combined (two updates and two messages received). RESULTS Only a significant main effect of passive peer encouragement and a significant interaction effect of passive peer encouragement*time were shown. The participants exposed to passive peer encouragement took significantly more risk compared to other participants. Moreover, adolescent risk-taking significantly increased after the first and second update compared to baseline (no update). CONCLUSION The findings suggest that adolescents are more likely to engage in risk-taking because of passive rather than active peer encouragement. Thus, communication through text-based messages in which young people provide information solely about their own risk-taking may be an important aim of prevention and intervention programs.
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40
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Konovalov A, Hu J, Ruff CC. Neurocomputational approaches to social behavior. Curr Opin Psychol 2018; 24:41-47. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.04.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2017] [Revised: 04/06/2018] [Accepted: 04/11/2018] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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41
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Abstract
Emotions usually occur in a social context; yet little is known about how similar and dissimilar others influence our emotions. In the current study, we examined whether ingroup and outgroup members have differential influence on emotion processing at the behavioral and neural levels. To this end, we recruited 45 participants to rate a series of images displaying people engaged in different emotional contexts. Participants then underwent an fMRI scan where they viewed the same images along with information on how ingroup and outgroup members rated them, and they were asked to rate the images again. We found that participants shifted their emotions to be more in alignment with the ingroup over the outgroup, and that neural regions implicated in positive valuation [ventral striatum (VS) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)], mentalizing [dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), and temporal pole], as well as emotion processing and salience detection (amygdala and insula), linearly tracked this behavior such that the extent of neural activity in these regions paralleled changes in participants' emotions. Results illustrate the powerful impact that ingroup members have on our emotions.
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42
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Charpentier CJ, O'Doherty JP. The application of computational models to social neuroscience: promises and pitfalls. Soc Neurosci 2018; 13:637-647. [PMID: 30173633 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2018.1518834] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Interactions with conspecifics are key to any social species. In order to navigate this social world, it is crucial for individuals to learn from and about others. From learning new skills by observing parents perform them to making complex collective decisions, understanding the mechanisms underlying social cognitive processes has been of considerable interest to psychologists and neuroscientists. Here, we review studies that have used computational modelling techniques, combined with neuroimaging, to shed light on how people learn and make decisions in social contexts. As opposed to standard social neuroscience methods, the computational approach allows one to directly examine where in the brain particular computations, as estimated by models of behavior, are implemented. Findings suggest that people use several strategies to learn from others: vicarious reward learning, where one learns from observing the reward outcomes of another agent; action imitation, which relies on encoding a prediction error between the expected and actual actions of the other agent; and social inference, where one learns by inferring the goals and intentions of others. These computations are implemented in distinct neural networks, which may be recruited adaptively depending on task demands, the environment and other social factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline J Charpentier
- a Division of Humanities and Social Sciences , California Institute of Technology , Pasadena , CA , USA
| | - John P O'Doherty
- a Division of Humanities and Social Sciences , California Institute of Technology , Pasadena , CA , USA
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43
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Braams BR, Davidow JY, Somerville LH. Developmental patterns of change in the influence of safe and risky peer choices on risky decision-making. Dev Sci 2018; 22:e12717. [PMID: 30105854 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2018] [Accepted: 06/29/2018] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
Adolescents take more risks when peers monitor their behavior. However, it is largely unknown how different types of peer influence affect adolescent decision-making. In this study, we investigate how information about previous choices of peers differentially influences decision-making in adolescence and young adulthood. Participants (N = 99, age range 12-22) completed an economic choice task in which choice options were systematically varied on levels of risk and ambiguity. On each trial, participants selected between a safer choice (low variability in outcome) and a riskier choice (high variability in outcome). Participants made choices in three conditions: a solo condition in which they made choices with no additional information, a social condition in which they saw choices of supposed peers, and a computer condition in which they saw choices of a computer. Results showed that participants' choices conform to the choices made by the peers, but not a computer. Furthermore, when peers chose the safe option, late adolescents were especially likely to make a safe choice. Conversely, when the peer made a risky choice, late adolescents were least likely to follow choices made by the peer. We did not find evidence for differential influence of social information on decisions depending on their level of risk and ambiguity. These results show that information about previous decisions of peers are a powerful modifier for behavior and that the effect of peers on adolescents' decisions is less ubiquitous and more specific than previously assumed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara R Braams
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
| | - Juliet Y Davidow
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
| | - Leah H Somerville
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
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44
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Tomova L, Pessoa L. Information about peer choices shapes human risky decision-making. Sci Rep 2018; 8:5129. [PMID: 29651013 PMCID: PMC5897569 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-23455-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2017] [Accepted: 03/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans frequently make choices that involve risk for health and well-being. At the same time, information about others’ choices is omnipresent due to new forms of social media and information technology. However, while past research has shown that peers can exert a strong influence on such risky choices, understanding how information about risky decisions of others affects one’s own risky decisions is still lacking. We therefore developed a behavioral task to measure how information about peer choices affects risky decision-making and call it the social Balloon Analogue Risk Task (sBART). We tested this novel paradigm in a sample of 52 college young adults. Here we show that risky decisions were influenced in the direction of the perceived choices of others – riskier choices of others led to riskier behavior whereas safer choices of others led to less risky behavior. These findings indicate that information about peer choices is sufficient to shape one’s own risky behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Livia Tomova
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | - Luiz Pessoa
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, USA.,Maryland Neuroimaging Center, University of Maryland, College Park, USA
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45
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Park SA, Goïame S, O'Connor DA, Dreher JC. Integration of individual and social information for decision-making in groups of different sizes. PLoS Biol 2017; 15:e2001958. [PMID: 28658252 PMCID: PMC5489145 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2001958] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2017] [Accepted: 05/25/2017] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
When making judgments in a group, individuals often revise their initial beliefs about the best judgment to make given what others believe. Despite the ubiquity of this phenomenon, we know little about how the brain updates beliefs when integrating personal judgments (individual information) with those of others (social information). Here, we investigated the neurocomputational mechanisms of how we adapt our judgments to those made by groups of different sizes, in the context of jury decisions for a criminal. By testing different theoretical models, we showed that a social Bayesian inference model captured changes in judgments better than 2 other models. Our results showed that participants updated their beliefs by appropriately weighting individual and social sources of information according to their respective credibility. When investigating 2 fundamental computations of Bayesian inference, belief updates and credibility estimates of social information, we found that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) computed the level of belief updates, while the bilateral frontopolar cortex (FPC) was more engaged in individuals who assigned a greater credibility to the judgments of a larger group. Moreover, increased functional connectivity between these 2 brain regions reflected a greater influence of group size on the relative credibility of social information. These results provide a mechanistic understanding of the computational roles of the FPC-dACC network in steering judgment adaptation to a group’s opinion. Taken together, these findings provide a computational account of how the human brain integrates individual and social information for decision-making in groups. In collective decisions, both the size of groups and the confidence that each member has in their own judgment determine how much a given individual will adapt to the judgment of the group. Here, we show that judgment adaptation during collective decisions—a fundamental brain mechanism needed for fluid functioning of social organizations—can be accounted for by Bayesian inference computations. At the time of judgment adaptation, individuals trade off the credibility inferred from their own confidence levels against the credibility of social information. The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) represented belief updates, while the lateral frontopolar cortex (FPC) monitored the changes in credibility assigned to social information. These results provide a neurocomputational understanding of how individuals benefit both from the wisdom of larger groups and from their own confidence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seongmin A. Park
- Neuroeconomics, Reward and Decision-making Team, Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Bron, France
- Université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France
- * E-mail: (SAP); (JCD)
| | - Sidney Goïame
- Neuroeconomics, Reward and Decision-making Team, Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Bron, France
| | - David A. O'Connor
- Neuroeconomics, Reward and Decision-making Team, Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Bron, France
| | - Jean-Claude Dreher
- Neuroeconomics, Reward and Decision-making Team, Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Bron, France
- Université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France
- * E-mail: (SAP); (JCD)
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46
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The integration of social influence and reward: Computational approaches and neural evidence. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2017; 17:784-808. [DOI: 10.3758/s13415-017-0512-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
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47
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Joiner J, Piva M, Turrin C, Chang SWC. Social learning through prediction error in the brain. NPJ SCIENCE OF LEARNING 2017; 2:8. [PMID: 30631454 PMCID: PMC6220304 DOI: 10.1038/s41539-017-0009-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2016] [Revised: 05/17/2017] [Accepted: 05/25/2017] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Learning about the world is critical to survival and success. In social animals, learning about others is a necessary component of navigating the social world, ultimately contributing to increasing evolutionary fitness. How humans and nonhuman animals represent the internal states and experiences of others has long been a subject of intense interest in the developmental psychology tradition, and, more recently, in studies of learning and decision making involving self and other. In this review, we explore how psychology conceptualizes the process of representing others, and how neuroscience has uncovered correlates of reinforcement learning signals to explore the neural mechanisms underlying social learning from the perspective of representing reward-related information about self and other. In particular, we discuss self-referenced and other-referenced types of reward prediction errors across multiple brain structures that effectively allow reinforcement learning algorithms to mediate social learning. Prediction-based computational principles in the brain may be strikingly conserved between self-referenced and other-referenced information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Joiner
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511 USA
| | - Matthew Piva
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520 USA
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510 USA
| | - Courtney Turrin
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511 USA
| | - Steve W. C. Chang
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511 USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520 USA
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510 USA
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48
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Neural signatures of social conformity: A coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of functional brain imaging studies. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2016; 71:101-111. [PMID: 27592151 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.08.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2016] [Revised: 08/28/2016] [Accepted: 08/30/2016] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
People often align their behaviors with group opinions, known as social conformity. Many neuroscience studies have explored the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying social conformity. Here we employed a coordinate-based meta-analysis on neuroimaging studies of social conformity with the purpose to reveal the convergence of the underlying neural architecture. We identified a convergence of reported activation foci in regions associated with normative decision-making, including ventral striatum (VS), dorsal posterior medial frontal cortex (dorsal pMFC), and anterior insula (AI). Specifically, consistent deactivation of VS and activation of dorsal pMFC and AI are identified when people's responses deviate from group opinions. In addition, the deviation-related responses in dorsal pMFC predict people's conforming behavioral adjustments. These are consistent with current models that disagreement with others might evoke "error" signals, cognitive imbalance, and/or aversive feelings, which are plausibly detected in these brain regions as control signals to facilitate subsequent conforming behaviors. Finally, group opinions result in altered neural correlates of valuation, manifested as stronger responses of VS to stimuli endorsed than disliked by others.
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49
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Blankenstein NE, Crone EA, van den Bos W, van Duijvenvoorde ACK. Dealing With Uncertainty: Testing Risk- and Ambiguity-Attitude Across Adolescence. Dev Neuropsychol 2016; 41:77-92. [PMID: 27028162 DOI: 10.1080/87565641.2016.1158265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Attitudes to risk (known probabilities) and attitudes to ambiguity (unknown probabilities) are separate constructs that influence decision making, but their development across adolescence remains elusive. We administered a choice task to a wide adolescent age-range (N = 157, 10-25 years) to disentangle risk- and ambiguity-attitudes using a model-based approach. Additionally, this task was played in a social context, presenting choices from a high risk-taking peer. We observed age-related changes in ambiguity-attitude, but not risk-attitude. Also, ambiguity-aversion was negatively related to real-life risk taking. Finally, the social context influenced only risk-attitudes. These results highlight the importance of disentangling risk- and ambiguity-attitudes in adolescent risk taking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neeltje E Blankenstein
- a Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology , Institute of Psychology, Leiden University , Leiden , the Netherlands
| | - Eveline A Crone
- a Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology , Institute of Psychology, Leiden University , Leiden , the Netherlands
| | - Wouter van den Bos
- b Center for Adaptive Rationality , Max Planck Institute for Human Development , Berlin , Germany
| | - Anna C K van Duijvenvoorde
- a Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology , Institute of Psychology, Leiden University , Leiden , the Netherlands
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50
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Behavioral contagion during learning about another agent's risk-preferences acts on the neural representation of decision-risk. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113:3755-60. [PMID: 27001826 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1600092113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Our attitude toward risk plays a crucial role in influencing our everyday decision-making. Despite its importance, little is known about how human risk-preference can be modulated by observing risky behavior in other agents at either the behavioral or the neural level. Using fMRI combined with computational modeling of behavioral data, we show that human risk-preference can be systematically altered by the act of observing and learning from others' risk-related decisions. The contagion is driven specifically by brain regions involved in the assessment of risk: the behavioral shift is implemented via a neural representation of risk in the caudate nucleus, whereas the representations of other decision-related variables such as expected value are not affected. Furthermore, we uncover neural computations underlying learning about others' risk-preferences and describe how these signals interact with the neural representation of risk in the caudate. Updating of the belief about others' preferences is associated with neural activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Functional coupling between the dlPFC and the caudate correlates with the degree of susceptibility to the contagion effect, suggesting that a frontal-subcortical loop, the so-called dorsolateral prefrontal-striatal circuit, underlies the modulation of risk-preference. Taken together, these findings provide a mechanistic account for how observation of others' risky behavior can modulate an individual's own risk-preference.
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