title: Effective connectivity of brain regions underlying third-party punishment: Functional MRI and Granger causality evidence.
abstract: Third-party punishment (TPP) for norm violations is an essential deterrent in large-scale human societies, and builds on two essential cognitive functions: evaluating legal responsibility and determining appropriate punishment. Despite converging evidence that TPP is mediated by a specific set of brain regions, little is known about their effective connectivity (direction and strength of connections). Applying parametric event-related functional MRI in conjunction with multivariate Granger causality analysis, we asked healthy participants to estimate how much punishment a hypothetical perpetrator deserves for intentionally committing criminal offenses varying in levels of harm. Our results confirmed that TPP legal decisions are based on two domain-general networks: the mentalizing network for evaluating legal responsibility and the central-executive network for determining appropriate punishment. Further, temporal pole (TP) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (PFC) emerged as hubs of the mentalizing network, uniquely generating converging output connections to ventromedial PFC, temporo-parietal junction, and posterior cingulate. In particular, dorsomedial PFC received inputs only from TP and both its activation and its connectivity to dorsolateral PFC correlated with degree of punishment. This supports the hypothesis that dorsomedial PFC acts as the driver of the TPP activation pattern, leading to the decision on the appropriate punishment. In conclusion, these results advance our understanding of the organizational elements of the TPP brain networks and provide better insights into the mental states of judges and jurors tasked with blaming and punishing legal wrongs.
authors.affiliation: a Molecular Neuroscience Department , George Mason University , Fairfax , VA , USA.|b Berlin School of Mind and Brain , Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin , Berlin , Germany.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bellucci
authors.affiliation: a Molecular Neuroscience Department , George Mason University , Fairfax , VA , USA.
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chernyak
authors.affiliation: c Second Judicial District , Denver , CO , USA.|d John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Research Network on Law and Neuroscience , Nashville , TN , USA.
authors.forename: Morris
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.affiliation: e AU MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering , Auburn University , Auburn , AL , USA.|f Department of Psychology , Auburn University , Auburn , AL , USA.
authors.forename: Gopikrishna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Deshpande
authors.affiliation: g Department of Psychology , Yale University , New Haven , CT , USA.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Dal Monte
authors.affiliation: h Behavioral Neurology Unit , National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda , MD , USA.
authors.forename: Kristine M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Knutson
authors.affiliation: i Brain Injury Research Program , Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago , Chicago , IL , USA.
authors.forename: Jordan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grafman
authors.affiliation: a Molecular Neuroscience Department , George Mason University , Fairfax , VA , USA.|j Department of Psychology , George Mason University , Fairfax , VA , USA.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Krueger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011678:Punishment / Q000523:psychology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Third-party punishment; effective connectivity; prefrontal cortex; social cognition; temporal pole