Cooperative and Competitive Contextual Effects on Social Cognitive and Empathic Neural Responses

Multivariate pattern analysis of cooperation and competition in constructive action

The neural underpinning of cooperative and competitive constructive activity has been investigated using mass-univariate approaches. In this study, we sought to compare the results of these approaches with the results of multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA). In particular, we wanted to test whether MVPA supports the claim made in previous studies that cooperation is associated with the activity of reward-related brain circuits. Participants were required to construct a pattern on the screen either individually or in cooperation or competition with another person during an fMRI scan. Both the MVPA classification methods and the representational similarity analysis indicated the involvement of orbitofrontal and ventromedial prefrontal areas in processes that distinguish between cooperation and competition, and activation analysis showed that these areas are more active during cooperation than during competition. However, a single trial analysis showed that the effect was reversed when only winning trials were considered. In these trials, activation of reward-related areas was higher during competition than during cooperation. Moreover, the contrast between won and lost trials in terms of reward circuits involvement was sharper under competition than under cooperation. Thus, although cooperation can be generally more rewarding than competition, it is associated with smaller difference between trials lost and trials won in terms of reward circuits activation. One may speculate that in cooperation, victory and defeat are shared with the partner and, contrary to competition, are not experienced as personal achievement or failure.

Roles of the Default Mode Network in Different Aspects of Self-representation When Remembering Social Autobiographical Memories

Autobiographical memory (AM) is episodic memory for personally experienced events, in which self-representation is more important than that in laboratory-based memory. Theoretically, self-representation in a social context is categorized as the interpersonal self (IS) referred to in a social interaction with a person or the social-valued self (SS) based on the reputation of the self in the surrounding society. Although functional neuroimaging studies have demonstrated the involvement of the default mode network (DMN) in self-representation, little is known about how the DMN subsystems contribute differentially to IS-related and SS-related AMs. To elucidate this issue, we used fMRI to scan healthy young adults during the recollection of AMs. We performed multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) and assessed functional connectivity in the DMN subsystems: the midline core, medial temporal lobe (MTL), and dorsomedial pFC (dmPFC) subsystems. The study yielded two main sets of findings. First, MVPA revealed that all DMN subsystems showed significant classification accuracy between IS-related and nonsocial-self-related AMs, and IS-related functional connectivity of the midline core regions with the retrosplenial cortex of the MTL subsystem and the dmPFC of the dmPFC subsystem was significant. Second, MVPA significantly distinguished between SS-related and nonsocial-self-related AMs in the midline core and dmPFC subsystems but not in the MTL subsystem, and SS-related functional connectivity with the midline core regions was significant in the temporal pole and TPJ of the dmPFC subsystem. Thus, dissociable neural mechanisms in the DMN could contribute to different aspects of self-representation in social AMs.

Social pain sharing boosts interpersonal brain synchronization in female cooperation

Social pain sharing promotes cooperation, but we still don't know its neural basis. The present study employed functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning technology to investigate whether interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) increased between females engaging in cooperative activities after a shared experience of social pain. We utilized the Cyberball paradigm, manipulating social pain by regulating the number of catches for the participants. Dyads in the shared social pain (SP) group received passes only at the beginning of the game, whereas dyads in the control (CT) group had the same number of catches as other players. The results indicate that participants in the SP group showed significant IBS in the right superior frontal cortex (r-SFC, p < 0.05) and left middle frontal cortex (l-MFC, p < 0.05), but no channels in the CT group showed significant IBS (p > 0.05). Further analysis revealed that IBS in r-SFC was significantly higher in the SP group compared to the CT group (p < 0.05). Additionally, IBS in r-SFC was positively correlated with the level of cooperation (r = 0.66, p < 0.001). This study elucidates the neural basis of enhanced cooperation facilitated by shared social pain at the interbrain level. However, it is crucial to acknowledge that this study exclusively enrolled female participants. The generalizability of these findings across genders is yet to be confirmed.

Cooperation within the therapeutic relationship improves metacognitive functioning: preliminary findings

Both clinical observations and empirical data suggest that metacognitive functioning is a factor strongly associated with a good psychotherapeutic outcome. It has been suggested that some interpersonal social motivations (i.e., attachment and cooperation) may be associated with different levels of metacognitive functioning also within the therapeutic relationship. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between cooperation and metacognitive monitoring within 58 psychotherapy sessions from seven different patients. All patients were initially assessed through a detailed psychiatric interview. Patients' adult attachment styles were evaluated using the Attachment Style Questionnaire. The association between the activation of patients' interpersonal social motivations (e.g., cooperation and attachment) and the modifications of metacognitive abilities during sessions was investigated using the Assessing Interpersonal Motivations in Transcripts method and the Metacognition Assessment Scale have been used. Our results showed that the activation of the patient's cooperative system is positively associated with an increase in metacognitive functioning, while the activation of attachment is not. The results of the present study have important implications for clinicians: they give empirical support for the role of cooperation in fostering metacognition within the therapeutic relationship.

The intracortical myelin content of impulsive choices: results from T1- and T2-weighted MRI myelin mapping

Delay discounting (DD) refers to a phenomenon that humans tend to choose small-sooner over large-later rewards during intertemporal choices. Steep discounting of delayed outcome is related to a variety of maladaptive behaviors and is considered as a transdiagnostic process across psychiatric disorders. Previous studies have investigated the association between brain structure (e.g. gray matter volume) and DD; however, it is unclear whether the intracortical myelin (ICM) influences DD. Here, based on a sample of 951 healthy young adults drawn from the Human Connectome Project, we examined the relationship between ICM, which was measured by the contrast of T1w and T2w images, and DD and further tested whether the identified associations were mediated by the regional homogeneity (ReHo) of brain spontaneous activity. Vertex-wise regression analyses revealed that steeper DD was significantly associated with lower ICM in the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and right middle-posterior cingulate cortex. Region-of-interest analysis revealed that the ReHo values in the left TPJ partially mediated the association of its myelin content with DD. Our findings provide the first evidence that cortical myelination is linked with individual differences in decision impulsivity and suggest that the myelin content affects cognitive performances partially through altered local brain synchrony.

People's dispositional cooperative tendencies towards robots are unaffected by robots' negative emotional displays in prisoner's dilemma games

The study explores the impact of robots' emotional displays on people's tendency to cooperate with a robot opponent in prisoner's dilemma games. Participants played iterated prisoner's dilemma games with a non-expressive robot (as a measure of cooperative baseline), followed by an angry, and a sad robot, in turn. Based on the Emotion as Social Information model, we expected participants with higher cooperative predispositions to cooperate less when a robot displayed anger, and cooperate more when the robot displayed sadness. Contrarily, according to this model, participants with lower cooperative predispositions should cooperate more with an angry robot and less with a sad robot. The results of 60 participants failed to support the predictions. Only the participants' cooperative predispositions significantly predicted their cooperative tendencies during gameplay. Participants who cooperated more in the baseline measure also cooperated more with the robots displaying sadness and anger. In exploratory analyses, we found that participants who accurately recognised the robots' sad and angry displays tended to cooperate less with them overall. The study highlights the impact of personal factors in human-robot cooperation, and how these factors might surpass the influence of bottom-up emotional displays by the robots in the present experimental scenario.

Cortical activation during cooperative joint actions and competition in children with and without an autism spectrum condition (ASC): an fNIRS study

Children with an Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) have social communication and perceptuomotor difficulties that affect their ability to engage in dyadic play. In this study, we compared spatio-temporal errors and fNIRS-related cortical activation between children with and without an ASC during a Lincoln Log dyadic game requiring them to play leader or follower roles, move in synchrony or while taking turns, and move cooperatively or competitively with an adult partner. Children with an ASC had greater motor, planning, and spatial errors and took longer to complete the building tasks compared to typically developing (TD) children. Children with an ASC had lower superior temporal sulcus (STS) activation during Turn-take and Compete, and greater Inferior Parietal Lobe (IPL) activation during Lead and Turn-take compared to TD children. As dyadic play demands increased, TD children showed greater STS activation during Turn-take (vs. Synchrony) and Compete (vs. Cooperate) whereas children with an ASC showed greater IPL activation during Lead and Compete (vs. Cooperate). Our findings suggest that children with an ASC rely on self-generated action plans (i.e., increased IPL activation) more than relying on their partner’s action cues (i.e., reduced STS activation) when engaging in dyadic play including joint actions and competition.

Mine or Ours? Neural Basis of the Exploitation of Common-Pool Resources

Why do people often exhaust unregulated common (shared) natural resources but manage to preserve similar private resources? To answer this question, in this study we combine a neurobiological, economic and cognitive modeling approach. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging on 50 participants, we show that a sharp decrease of common and private resources is associated with deactivation of the ventral striatum, a brain region involved in the valuation of outcomes. Across individuals, when facing a common resource, ventral striatal activity is anticorrelated with resource preservation (less harvesting), whereas with private resources the opposite pattern is observed. This indicates that neural value signals distinctly modulate behavior in response to the depletion of common vs private resources. Computational modeling suggested that overharvesting of common resources was facilitated by the modulatory effect of social comparison on value signals. These results provide an explanation of people’s tendency to over-exploit unregulated common natural resources.

A Feature-Based Network Analysis and fMRI Meta-Analysis Reveal Three Distinct Types of Prosocial Decisions

Tasks that measure correlates of prosocial decision-making share one common feature: agents can make choices that increase the welfare of a beneficiary. However, prosocial decisions vary widely as a function of other task features. The diverse ways that prosociality is defined and the heterogeneity of prosocial decisions have created challenges for interpreting findings across studies and identifying their neural correlates. To overcome these challenges, we aimed to organize the prosocial decision-making task space of neuroimaging studies. We conducted a systematic search for studies in which participants made decisions to increase the welfare of others during functional magnetic resonance imaging. We identified shared and distinct features of these tasks and employed an unsupervised graph-based approach to assess how various forms of prosocial decision-making are related in terms of their low-level components (e.g. task features like potential cost to the agent or potential for reciprocity). Analyses uncovered three clusters of prosocial decisions, which we labeled as cooperation, equity and altruism. This feature-based representation of the task structure was supported by results of a neuroimaging meta-analysis that each type of prosocial decisions recruited diverging neural systems. Results clarify some of the existing heterogeneity in how prosociality is conceptualized and generate insight for future research and task paradigm development.

Do Competitive Contexts Affect Mindreading Performance?

Mindreading is contingent upon interpersonal context. Little is known about how competitive contexts influence mindreading skills. The idea was that the capacity to think about mental states would decline when individuals experiencing failure in competition. This study aims to assess effects of a competitive experience (a computer competitive PC game) on a sample of healthy subjects (119 participants). The sample was divided into two sub-samples. The experimental group underwent an experience of failure, consisting in a PC game of logic against a hypothetical opponent. The control group was required instead only to discuss past personal experiences of competitive interactions. The Metacognitive Assessment Interview was administered to each sub-sample for evaluating mindreading capacities. Self-report tests were additionally provided for evaluation of trait-based dispositions: self-esteem, perfectionism, narcissism. Results supported our hypothesis: induction of sense of failure compromises ability to describe one’s own mental states and mental states of others. This effect was more pronounced in the domain of self-reflection. Results remained significant after controlling for self-esteem, perfectionism, and narcissism. We discuss possible clinical implications of these findings and the importance of evaluating mindreading capacities under the pressure of social rank as well as of other social motive.

Competitive Intensity Modulates the Pain Empathy Response: An Event-Related Potentials Study

Previous studies have widely reported that competition modulates an individual's ability to empathize with pain experienced by others. What remains to be clarified, however, is how modulations in the intensity of competition might affect this type of empathy. To investigate this, we first used a Eriksen Flanker task to set different competitive intensity context (high competitive intensity, HCI; medium competitive intensity, MCI; low competitive intensity, LCI). Then we used a recognition task as a competitive task, in which we recorded event-related potentials (ERP) while participants viewed static images of body parts in painful and non-painful situations. Participants were informed that both sets of images depicted an opponent that they were required to play against in the recognition task that varied in levels of competitive intensity according to condition (HCI, MCI, and LCI). We observed an early N2 differentiation between pain and no-pain stimuli over the frontal area under MCI and LCI conditions, but this was not detected under HCI condition. Moreover, we observed a pattern of pain and no-pain differentiation for the late LPP over the frontal and centro-parietal regions under HCI, MCI, and LCI condition. As the pain empathy response is indexed by pain and no-pain differentiation, these results indicate a down-regulation of pain empathy response attributable to a high level of competition. With its very early onset, this effect appears to inhibit bottom-up processing of the ability to perceive pain experienced by an opponent. Our results provide neuroscientific evidence for a deficit in early automatic arousal in response to the pain of the opponent under the influence of high competitive intensity.