Neural correlates of the rejection of unfair offers in the impunity game.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined the roles of the insula and the anterior cingulate activations in the rejection of unfair offers in the impunity game.


METHODS
Fifteen participants played the impunity game in ten trials as responders during neuroimaging.


RESULTS
About 45% of the unfair offers were rejected by the responders even when responders could not restore a fair outcome, which cannot be accounted for by social preference of inequity aversion. Imaging data showed that the right anterior insula was activated when participants faced and rejected unfair offers.


CONCLUSIONS
The insula activation during a rejection of the unfair offers is the reflection of an emotional response, rather than social preference of inequity aversion. The role of emotion in the neuroeconomics of fairness was demonstrated.
Takagishi
Haruto
H
Department of Behavioral Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
Takahashi
Taiki
T
Toyomura
Akira
A
Takashino
Nina
N
Koizumi
Michiko
M
Yamagishi
Toshio
T
D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005716:Game Theory; D005717:Games, Experimental; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012919:Social Behavior; D055815:Young Adult