Agent-specific responses in the cingulate cortex during economic exchanges.
Interactions with other responsive agents lie at the core of all social exchange. During a social exchange with a partner, one fundamental variable that must be computed correctly is who gets credit for a shared outcome; this assignment is crucial for deciding on an optimal level of cooperation that avoids simple exploitation. We carried out an iterated, two-person economic exchange and made simultaneous hemodynamic measurements from each player's brain. These joint measurements revealed agent-specific responses in the social domain ("me" and "not me") arranged in a systematic spatial pattern along the cingulate cortex. This systematic response pattern did not depend on metrical aspects of the exchange, and it disappeared completely in the absence of a responding partner.
Tomlin
Damon
D
Human Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Kayali
M Amin
MA
King-Casas
Brooks
B
Anen
Cedric
C
Camerer
Colin F
CF
Quartz
Steven R
SR
Montague
P Read
PR
D001931:Brain Mapping; D004467:Economics; D005717:Games, Experimental; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D035502:Trust