title: Organization of intrinsic functional brain connectivity predicts decisions to reciprocate social behavior.
abstract: Reciprocation of trust exchanges is central to the development of interpersonal relationships and societal well-being. Understanding how humans make pro-social and self-centered decisions in dyadic interactions and how to predict these choices has been an area of great interest in social neuroscience. A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) based technology with potential clinical application is the study of resting state brain connectivity. We tested if resting state connectivity may predict choice behavior in a social context. Twenty-nine healthy adults underwent resting state fMRI before performing the Trust Game, a two person monetary exchange game. We assessed the ability of patterns of resting-state functional brain organization, demographic characteristics and a measure of moral development, the Defining Issues Test (DIT-2), to predict individuals' decisions to reciprocate money during the Trust Game. Subjects reciprocated in 74.9% of the trials. Independent component analysis identified canonical resting-state networks. Increased functional connectivity between the salience (bilateral insula/anterior cingulate) and central executive (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex/ posterior parietal cortex) networks significantly predicted the choice to reciprocate pro-social behavior (R(2) = 0.20, p = 0.015). Stepwise linear regression analysis showed that functional connectivity between these two networks (p = 0.002), age (p = 0.007) and DIT-2 personal interest schema score (p = 0.032) significantly predicted reciprocity behavior (R(2) = 0.498, p = 0.001). Intrinsic functional connectivity between neural networks in conjunction with other individual characteristics may be a valuable tool for predicting performance during social interactions. Future replication and temporal extension of these findings may bolster the understanding of decision making in clinical, financial and marketing settings.
authors.affiliation: Brain Imaging Research Center, Psychiatric Research Institute, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 West Markham St., Slot #554, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA. Electronic address: rcaceda@uams.edu.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cáceda
authors.affiliation: Brain Imaging Research Center, Psychiatric Research Institute, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 West Markham St., Slot #554, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA. Electronic address: gajames@uams.edu.
authors.forename: G Andrew
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: James
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Informatics, Emory University, 36 Eagle Row, 5th Floor South Atlanta, GA 3032, USA. Electronic address: dagutman@emory.edu.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Gutman
authors.affiliation: Brain Imaging Research Center, Psychiatric Research Institute, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 West Markham St., Slot #554, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA. Electronic address: cdkilts@uams.edu.
authors.forename: Clinton D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Kilts
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005716:Game Theory; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D012919:Social Behavior; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Connectivity; Moral development; Reciprocity; Resting state; Selfishness; Trust game