title: Corticolimbic gating of emotion-driven punishment.
abstract: Determining the appropriate punishment for a norm violation requires consideration of both the perpetrator's state of mind (for example, purposeful or blameless) and the strong emotions elicited by the harm caused by their actions. It has been hypothesized that such affective responses serve as a heuristic that determines appropriate punishment. However, an actor's mental state often trumps the effect of emotions, as unintended harms may go unpunished, regardless of their magnitude. Using fMRI, we found that emotionally graphic descriptions of harmful acts amplify punishment severity, boost amygdala activity and strengthen amygdala connectivity with lateral prefrontal regions involved in punishment decision-making. However, this was only observed when the actor's harm was intentional; when harm was unintended, a temporoparietal-medial-prefrontal circuit suppressed amygdala activity and the effect of graphic descriptions on punishment was abolished. These results reveal the brain mechanisms by which evaluation of a transgressor's mental state gates our emotional urges to punish.
authors.affiliation: 1] Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Belmont, Massachusetts, USA. [2] Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. [3].
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Treadway
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. [2].
authors.forename: Joshua W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Buckholtz
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Justin W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Katharine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jan
authors.affiliation: Division of Social Sciences, Yale-NUS, Singapore.
authors.forename: Christopher L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Asplund
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt Law School, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Ginther
authors.affiliation: 1] Vanderbilt Law School, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. [2] Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. [3] MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: Owen D
authors.initials: OD
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, and Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neurosciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Marois
mesh_terms: D000679:Amygdala / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D019545:Intuition / Q000502:physiology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D011678:Punishment / Q000523:psychology*
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