title: Neural correlates of advantageous and disadvantageous inequity in sharing decisions.
abstract: Humans have a strong preference for fair distributions of resources. Neuroimaging studies have shown that being treated unfairly coincides with activation in brain regions involved in signaling conflict and negative affect. Less is known about neural responses involved in violating a fairness norm ourselves. Here, we investigated the neural patterns associated with inequity, where participants were asked to choose between an equal split of money and an unequal split that could either maximize their own (advantageous inequity) or another person's (disadvantageous inequity) earnings. Choosing to divide money unequally, irrespective who benefited from the unequal distribution, was associated with activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Inequity choices that maximized another person's profits were further associated with activity in the ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Taken together, our findings show evidence of a common neural pattern associated with both advantageous and disadvantageous inequity in sharing decisions and additional recruitment of neural circuitry previously linked to the computation of subjective value and reward when violating a fairness norm at the benefit of someone else.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Berna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Güroğlu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Geert-Jan
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Will
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Eveline A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Crone
mesh_terms: D001519:Behavior; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D005716:Game Theory; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D018803:Models, Economic; D009415:Nerve Net; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult