title: Agent-specific responses in the cingulate cortex during economic exchanges.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Human Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Damon
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tomlin
authors.forename: M Amin
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kayali
authors.forename: Brooks
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: King-Casas
authors.forename: Cedric
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Anen
authors.forename: Colin F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Camerer
authors.forename: Steven R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Quartz
authors.forename: P Read
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Montague
mesh_terms: D001931:Brain Mapping; D004467:Economics; D005717:Games, Experimental; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D035502:Trust