title: Neural Correlates of Prosocial Behavior: Compensating Social Exclusion in a Four-Player Cyberball Game.
abstract: Prior studies demonstrated contributions of the insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) for both experiencing and observing social exclusion, but it is not yet well understood how the brain processes the compensation of exclusion, as is observed in prosocial helping. Here, we tested if social brain regions, specifically the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and temporal parietal junction (TPJ) are involved when individuals show prosocial behavior towards excluded others. For this purpose, 23 female participants played a four-player Cyberball Game in which participants could toss balls to each other. During the exclusion game, two players excluded one of the other players. When participants observed exclusion by others, they showed elevated activity in the insula, consistent with prior studies. However, when they tossed the ball to the excluded player, they showed increased activation in the TPJ, consistent with the hypothesis that prosocial behavior is associated with social reasoning. In addition, tossing to the excluded player was associated with increased activity in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc). Given that prior studies reported that the NAcc is involved in experiencing rewards, this may suggest a warm glow for showing prosocial compensation behavior when helping excluded others.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.|Leiden Consortium Individual Development, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mara
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van der Meulen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.|Center for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marinus H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: van IJzendoorn
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.|Leiden Consortium Individual Development, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Eveline A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Crone
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D018910:Video Games