scholarly journals Neural reward related-reactions to monetar gains for self and charity are associated with donating behavior in adolescence

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-163
Author(s):  
Jochem P Spaans ◽  
Sabine Peters ◽  
Eveline A Crone
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Precentral Gyrus ◽  
Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Subjective Value ◽  
Donation Behavior ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Zero Sum ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scanning

Abstract The aim of the current study was to examine neural signatures of gaining money for self and charity in adolescence. Participants (N = 160, aged 11–21) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging-scanning while performing a zero-sum vicarious reward task in which they could either earn money for themselves at the expense of charity, for a self-chosen charity at the expense of themselves, or for both parties. Afterwards, they could donate money to charity, which we used as a behavioral index of giving. Gaining for self and for both parties resulted in activity in the ventral striatum (specifically in the NAcc), but not gaining for charity. Interestingly, striatal activity when gaining for charity was positively related to individual differences in donation behavior and perspective taking. Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, insula and precentral gyrus were active when gaining only for self, and temporal-parietal junction when gaining only for charity, relative to gaining for both parties (i.e. under equity deviation). Taken together, these findings show that striatal activity during vicarious gaining for charity depends on levels of perspective taking and predicts future acts of giving to charity. These findings provide insight in the individual differences in the subjective value of prosocial outcomes.

scholarly journals Revisiting potential associations between brain morphology, fear acquisition and extinction through new data and a literature review

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mana R. Ehlers ◽  
Janne Nold ◽  
Manuel Kuhn ◽  
Maren Klingelhöfer-Jens ◽  
Tina B. Lonsdorf
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Fear Conditioning ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Brain Morphology ◽  
Small Samples ◽  
Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Defensive Responding ◽  
Brain Behavior ◽  
Subcortical Volume

AbstractInter-individual differences in defensive responding are widely established but their morphological correlates in humans have not been investigated exhaustively. Previous studies reported associations with cortical thickness of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, insula and medial orbitofrontal cortex as well as amygdala volume in fear conditioning studies. However, these associations are partly inconsistent and often derived from small samples. The current study aimed to replicate previously reported associations between physiological and subjective measures of fear acquisition and extinction and brain morphology. Structural magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 107 healthy adults who completed a differential cued fear conditioning paradigm with 24 h delayed extinction while skin conductance response (SCR) and fear ratings were recorded. Cortical thickness and subcortical volume were obtained using the software Freesurfer. Results obtained by traditional null hypothesis significance testing and Bayesians statistics do not support structural brain-behavior relationships: Neither differential SCR nor fear ratings during fear acquisition or extinction training could be predicted by cortical thickness or subcortical volume in regions previously reported. In summary, the current pre-registered study does not corroborate associations between brain morphology and inter-individual differences in defensive responding but differences in experimental design and analyses approaches compared to previous work should be acknowledged.

Neural functional correlates of empathic face processing: An activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis of fMRI studies

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S345-S345
Author(s):  
A. Del Casale ◽  
D. Janiri ◽  
G. Kotzalidis ◽  
G. Giuseppin ◽  
E. Spinazzola ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Face Processing ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Brain Area ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Mirror Neuron ◽  
Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Precentral Gyrus ◽  
Brain Areas

IntroductionEmpathy is evolutionary preserved in social organisms and emotional face processing is one of its measures. Systems possibly active during empathic processing include perspective-taking, basic emotional contagion “mirroring” and “theory of mind” systems.ObjectivesfMRI studies help clarifying neural correlates of empathic face processing; ALE meta-analysing fMRI studies allows identification of brain area activation/deactivation during empathy.AimsTo identify brain areas most consistently involved in empathy.MethodsWe carried ALE meta-analysis of original studies focusing on cerebral activations during empathic face processing tasks and reporting data on Talairach or MNI space coordinates, converting the former in the latter. An 11-April-2016 PubMed search, using as keywords terms like empathy combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), produced 124 records of which 23 were finally included (568 participants, 247 males and 321 females; mean age 32.2 years). We followed the PRISMA statement. Whole-brain data were meta-analysed; significance was set at P = 0.0001, uncorrected.ResultsALE meta-analysis of data from 21 experiments (totalling 527 foci) on empathic face processing during experimental task conditions showed that emotional vs. neutral/control conditions significantly correlated with activations of left anterior cingulate cortex (BA 32), right precentral gyrus (BA 6), left amygdala, right superior frontal gyrus (BA 9), left middle occipital gyrus (BA 37), right insula (BA 13), left putamen, and left posterior cingulate cortex (BA 31).ConclusionsEmpathy is a complex process correlating with activation of different brain areas, which have been involved in emotional cue processing, self-other/same-different discrimination, perspective-taking, mirror neuron activation, emotional arousal and decision-making.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

scholarly journals Context-Dependent Probability Estimation and its Neurocomputational Substrates

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei-Hsiang Lin ◽  
Justin L. Gardner ◽  
Shih-Wei Wu
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Probability Estimation ◽  
List Type ◽  
Probability Estimate ◽  
Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Bold Imaging ◽  
Probability Estimates ◽  
Subjective Estimates

ABSTRACTMany decisions rely on how we evaluate potential outcomes associated with the options under consideration and estimate their corresponding probabilities of occurrence. Outcome valuation is subjective as it requires consulting internal preferences and is sensitive to context. In contrast, probability estimation requires extracting statistics from the environment and therefore imposes unique challenges to the decision maker. Here we show that probability estimation, like outcome valuation, is subject to context effects that bias probability estimates away from other stimuli present in the same context. However, unlike valuation, these context effects appeared to be scaled by estimated uncertainty, which is largest at intermediate probabilities. BOLD imaging showed that patterns of multivoxel activity in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) predicted individual differences in context effects on probability estimate. These results establish VMPFC as the neurocomputational substrate shared between valuation and probability estimation and highlight the additional involvement of dACC that can be uniquely attributed to probability estimation. As probability estimation is a required component of computational accounts from sensory inference to higher cognition, the context effects found here may affect a wide array of cognitive computations.HighlightsContext impacts subjective estimates on reward probability – Stimuli carrying greater variance are more strongly affected by other stimuli present in the same contextThis phenomenon can be explained by reference-dependent computations that are gated by reward varianceMultivoxel patterns of dACC and VMPFC activity predicts individual differences in context effect on probability estimate

The Angry Brain: Neural Correlates of Anger, Angry Rumination, and Aggressive Personality

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 734-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas F. Denson ◽  
William C. Pedersen ◽  
Jaclyn Ronquillo ◽  
Anirvan S. Nandy
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Aggressive Behavior ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Neural Pathways ◽  
Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Angry Rumination ◽  
Aggressive Personality

Very little is known about the neural circuitry guiding anger, angry rumination, and aggressive personality. In the present fMRI experiment, participants were insulted and induced to ruminate. Activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex was positively related to self-reported feelings of anger and individual differences in general aggression. Activity in the medial prefrontal cortex was related to self-reported rumination and individual differences in displaced aggression. Increased activation in the hippocampus, insula, and cingulate cortex following the provocation predicted subsequent self-reported rumination. These findings increase our understanding of the neural processes associated with the risk for aggressive behavior by specifying neural regions that mediate the subjective experience of anger and angry rumination as well as the neural pathways linked to different types of aggressive behavior.

scholarly journals Subjective value then confidence in human ventromedial prefrontal cortex

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison D. Shapiro ◽  
Scott T. Grafton
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Quadratic Extension ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Subjective Value ◽  
Decision Outcomes ◽  
Painful Shock

AbstractTwo fundamental goals of decision making are to select actions that maximize rewards while minimizing costs and to have strong confidence in the accuracy of a judgment. Neural signatures of these two forms of value: the subjective value (SV) of choice alternatives and the value of the judgment (confidence), have both been observed in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). However, the relationship between these dual value signals and their relative time courses are unknown. We recorded fMRI while 28 men and women performed a two-phase Ap-Av task with mixed-outcomes of monetary rewards paired with painful shock stimuli. Neural responses were measured during offer valuation (offer phase) and choice valuation (commit phase) and analyzed with respect to observed decision outcomes, model-estimated SV and confidence. During the offer phase, vmPFC tracked SV and decision outcomes, but it not confidence. During the commit phase, vmPFC tracked confidence, computed as the quadratic extension of SV, but it bore no significant relationship with the offer valuation itself, nor the decision. In fact, vmPFC responses from the commit phase were selective for confidence even for rejected offers, wherein confidence and SV were inversely related. Conversely, activation of the cognitive control network, including within lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) was associated with ambivalence, during both the offer and commit phases. Taken together, our results reveal complementary representations in vmPFC during value-based decision making that temporally dissociate such that offer valuation (SV) emerges before decision valuation (confidence).

scholarly journals Revisiting potential associations between brain morphology, fear acquisition and extinction through new data and a literature review

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mana R Ehlers ◽  
Janne Nold ◽  
Manuel Kuhn ◽  
Maren Klingelhöfer-Jens ◽  
Tina B Lonsdorf
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Fear Conditioning ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Brain Morphology ◽  
Small Samples ◽  
Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Defensive Responding ◽  
Brain Behavior ◽  
Subcortical Volume

Inter-individual differences in defensive responding are widely established but their morphological correlates in humans have not been investigated exhaustively. Previous studies reported associations with cortical thickness of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, insula and medial orbitofrontal cortex as well as amygdala volume in fear conditioning studies. However, these associations are partly inconsistent and often derived from small samples. The current study aimed to replicate previously reported associations between physiological and subjective measures of fear acquisition and extinction and brain morphology. Structural magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 107 healthy adults who completed a differential cued fear conditioning paradigm with 24h delayed extinction while skin conductance response (SCR) and fear ratings were recorded. Cortical thickness and subcortical volume were obtained using the software Freesurfer. Results obtained by traditional null hypothesis significance testing and Bayesians statistics do not support structural brain-behavior relationships: Neither differential SCR nor fear ratings during fear acquisition or extinction training could be predicted by cortical thickness or subcortical volume in regions previously reported. In summary, the current pre-registered study does not corroborate associations between brain morphology and inter-individual differences in defensive responding but differences in experimental design and analyses approaches compared to previous work should be acknowledged.

scholarly journals Individual Differences in Teleporting through Virtual Environments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Cherep ◽  
Jonathan Kelly ◽  
Anthony James Miller ◽  
Alex Lim ◽  
Stephen B. Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Spatial Ability ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Latent Profile Analysis ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cognitive Correlates ◽  
Change Position ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Self Motion

Virtual reality (VR) allows users to walk to explore the virtual environment (VE), but this capability is constrained by real obstacles. Teleporting interfaces overcome this constraint by allowing users to select a position, and sometimes orientation, in the VE before being instantly transported without self-motion cues. This study investigated whether individual differences in navigation performance when teleporting correspond to characteristics of the individual, including spatial ability. Participants performed triangle completion (traverse two outbound path legs, then point to the path origin) within VEs differing in visual landmarks. Locomotion was accomplished using three interfaces: walking, partially concordant teleporting (teleport to change position, rotate the body to change orientation), and discordant teleporting (teleport to change position and orientation). A latent profile analysis identified three classes of individuals: those who performed well overall and improved with landmarks (“Accurate Integrators”), those who performed poorly without landmarks but improved when available (“Inaccurate Integrators”), and those who performed poorly even with landmarks (“Inaccurate Non-Integrators”). Characteristics of individuals differed across classes, including gender, self-reported spatial ability, mental rotation, and perspective-taking; but only perspective-taking significantly distinguished all three classes. This work elucidates spatial cognitive correlates of navigation and provides a framework for identifying susceptibility to disorientation in VR.

Why do people believe in a zero-sum economy?

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel G. B. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Evolutionary Model ◽  
Everyday Experience ◽  
Coalitional Psychology ◽  
The Face ◽  
Zero Sum

AbstractZero-sum thinking and aversion to trade pervade our society, yet fly in the face of everyday experience and the consensus of economists. Boyer & Petersen's (B&P's) evolutionary model invokes coalitional psychology to explain these puzzling intuitions. I raise several empirical challenges to this explanation, proposing two alternative mechanisms – intuitive mercantilism (assigning value to money rather than goods) and errors in perspective-taking.

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