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Wang H, Wu X, Xu J, Zhu R, Zhang S, Xu Z, Mai X, Qin S, Liu C. Acute stress during witnessing injustice shifts third-party interventions from punishing the perpetrator to helping the victim. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002195. [PMID: 38754078 PMCID: PMC11098560 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002195] [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: 06/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024] Open
Abstract
People tend to intervene in others' injustices by either punishing the transgressor or helping the victim. Injustice events often occur under stressful circumstances. However, how acute stress affects a third party's intervention in injustice events remains open. Here, we show a stress-induced shift in third parties' willingness to engage in help instead of punishment by acting on emotional salience and central-executive and theory-of-mind networks. Acute stress decreased the third party's willingness to punish the violator and the severity of the punishment and increased their willingness to help the victim. Computational modeling revealed a shift in preference of justice recovery from punishment the offender toward help the victim under stress. This finding is consistent with the increased dorsolateral prefrontal engagement observed with higher amygdala activity and greater connectivity with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in the stress group. A brain connectivity theory-of-mind network predicted stress-induced justice recovery in punishment. Our findings suggest a neurocomputational mechanism of how acute stress reshapes third parties' decisions by reallocating neural resources in emotional, executive, and mentalizing networks to inhibit punishment bias and decrease punishment severity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huagen Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoyan Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Jiahua Xu
- Psychiatry Research Center, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Peking University Huilonguan Clinical Medical School, Beijing, China
| | - Ruida Zhu
- Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Sihui Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Zhenhua Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoqin Mai
- Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
| | - Shaozheng Qin
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China
| | - Chao Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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Morese R, Palermo S. Altruistic Punishment and Impulsivity in Parkinson's Disease: A Social Neuroscience Perspective. Front Behav Neurosci 2020; 14:102. [PMID: 32792921 PMCID: PMC7385270 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2020.00102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2020] [Accepted: 05/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) are of increasing interest in clinical and psychological research. Disinhibition-the inability to inhibit inappropriate behavior-leads to social and emotional impairments, including impulsive behavior and disregard for social conventions and decision-making behavior. In recent years, the latter has been investigated using economic exchanges during social interactions. Altruistic punishment-to punish someone who violates group norms even if it foresees a personal cost-is one of the most useful and fruitful paradigms; it allows to maintain a cooperation system within social groups. Alterations of this cognitive ability negatively impact the quality of life of the individual and social stability. Social neuroscience has suggested association between impulsive behaviors and altruistic punishment. Neuroimaging research aimed at exploring functional networks and intrinsic functional connectivity went in this direction. To date, little is known about these issues in neurodegenerative diseases such as PD. Dopamine replacement treatment and dopamine-agonists have been associated with impulse-control disorder and impulsive-compulsive behavior able to affect social decision-making. Frontal-executive dysfunction determines an alteration of social functioning through a mechanism of subversion of online action-monitoring, which associates disinhibition with volition. Genetic polymorphisms, alterations of the nigro-striatal substance, and impairment in the medial prefrontal cortex and in the Default mode network (DMN) seem to be able to explain these mechanisms. This theoretical perspective article aims to present these topics in order to encourage an interdisciplinary discussion capable of generating new research and developing rehabilitative intervention to improve social decision-making in PD patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rosalba Morese
- Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland.,Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland
| | - Sara Palermo
- Center for the Study of Movement Disorders, Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.,European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing, Brussels, Belgium
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Lo Gerfo E, Gallucci A, Morese R, Vergallito A, Ottone S, Ponzano F, Locatelli G, Bosco F, Romero Lauro LJ. The role of ventromedial prefrontal cortex and temporo-parietal junction in third-party punishment behavior. Neuroimage 2019; 200:501-510. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.06.047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2018] [Revised: 05/13/2019] [Accepted: 06/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
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