title: Neural mechanisms underlying human consensus decision-making.
abstract: Consensus building in a group is a hallmark of animal societies, yet little is known about its underlying computational and neural mechanisms. Here, we applied a computational framework to behavioral and fMRI data from human participants performing a consensus decision-making task with up to five other participants. We found that participants reached consensus decisions through integrating their own preferences with information about the majority group members' prior choices, as well as inferences about how much each option was stuck to by the other people. These distinct decision variables were separately encoded in distinct brain areas-the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, posterior superior temporal sulcus/temporoparietal junction, and intraparietal sulcus-and were integrated in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Our findings provide support for a theoretical account in which collective decisions are made through integrating multiple types of inference about oneself, others, and environments, processed in distinct brain modules.
authors: Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow, Graduate School of Letters, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0810, Japan. Electronic address: shinsuke.szk@gmail.com.
authors: Shinsuke
authors: S
authors: Suzuki
authors: Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
authors: Ryo
authors: R
authors: Adachi
authors: Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
authors: Simon
authors: S
authors: Dunne
authors: David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA; Faculty of Business and Economics, The University of Melbourne, Carlton, VIC 3010, Australia; Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Bossaerts
authors: Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
authors: John P
authors: JP
authors: O'Doherty
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D032921:Consensus; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015233:Models, Statistical; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012925:Social Conformity; D055815:Young Adult