title: Vasopressin increases human risky cooperative behavior.
abstract: The history of humankind is an epic of cooperation, which is ubiquitous across societies and increasing in scale. Much human cooperation occurs where it is risky to cooperate for mutual benefit because successful cooperation depends on a sufficient level of cooperation by others. Here we show that arginine vasopressin (AVP), a neuropeptide that mediates complex mammalian social behaviors such as pair bonding, social recognition and aggression causally increases humans' willingness to engage in risky, mutually beneficial cooperation. In two double-blind experiments, male participants received either AVP or placebo intranasally and made decisions with financial consequences in the "Stag hunt" cooperation game. AVP increases humans' willingness to cooperate. That increase is not due to an increase in the general willingness to bear risks or to altruistically help others. Using functional brain imaging, we show that, when subjects make the risky Stag choice, AVP down-regulates the BOLD signal in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), a risk-integration region, and increases the left dlPFC functional connectivity with the ventral pallidum, an AVP receptor-rich region previously associated with AVP-mediated social reward processing in mammals. These findings show a previously unidentified causal role for AVP in social approach behavior in humans, as established by animal research.
authors: Department of Neurology, University Lübeck, 23562 Lübeck, Germany; Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany; Department of Empirical Economics, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany; Department of Social Medicine and Health Economics, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany;
authors: Claudia
authors: C
authors: Brunnlieb
authors: Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125;
authors: Gideon
authors: G
authors: Nave
authors: Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125; Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 camerer@hss.caltech.edu.
authors: Colin F
authors: CF
authors: Camerer
authors: Department of Empirical Economics, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany;
authors: Stephan
authors: S
authors: Schosser
authors: Department of Empirical Economics, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany; Department of Social Medicine and Health Economics, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany;
authors: Bodo
authors: B
authors: Vogt
authors: Department of Neurology, University Lübeck, 23562 Lübeck, Germany;
authors: Thomas F
authors: TF
authors: Münte
authors: Department of Neurology, University Lübeck, 23562 Lübeck, Germany; Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany;
authors: Marcus
authors: M
authors: Heldmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001127:Arginine Vasopressin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D066187:Basal Forebrain / Q000378:metabolism; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D059906:Neuroimaging; D012309:Risk-Taking
chemical_list: D001127:Arginine Vasopressin
keywords: cooperation; fMRI; intranasal administration; neuroeconomics; vasopressin