title: Spatial gradient in value representation along the medial prefrontal cortex reflects individual differences in prosociality.
abstract: Despite the importance of valuing another person's welfare for prosocial behavior, currently we have only a limited understanding of how these values are represented in the brain and, more importantly, how they give rise to individual variability in prosociality. In the present study, participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a prosocial learning task in which they could choose to benefit themselves and/or another person. Choice behavior indicated that participants valued the welfare of another person, although less so than they valued their own welfare. Neural data revealed a spatial gradient in activity within the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), such that ventral parts predominantly represented self-regarding values and dorsal parts predominantly represented other-regarding values. Importantly, compared with selfish individuals, prosocial individuals showed a more gradual transition from self-regarding to other-regarding value signals in the MPFC and stronger MPFC-striatum coupling when they made choices for another person rather than for themselves. The present study provides evidence of neural markers reflecting individual differences in human prosociality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Korea University, Seoul 136-701, Republic of Korea;
authors.forename: Sunhae
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sul
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Zurich, CH-8006 Zurich, Switzerland;
authors.forename: Philippe N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Tobler
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Zurich, CH-8006 Zurich, Switzerland;
authors.forename: Grit
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hein
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Zurich, CH-8006 Zurich, Switzerland;
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Leiberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 136-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Daehyun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Zurich, CH-8006 Zurich, Switzerland;
authors.forename: Ernst
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fehr
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Korea University, Seoul 136-701, Republic of Korea; hackjinkim@korea.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Hackjin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: anterior insula; computational model; medial prefrontal cortex; reinforcement learning; striatum