The computational and neural substrates of moral strategies in social decision-making
Source
Nature Communications, 10, (2019), article 1483ISSN
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor
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Organization
PI Group Decision Neuroscience
SW OZ BSI BO
SW OZ BSI SCP
Journal title
Nature Communications
Volume
vol. 10
Languages used
English (eng)
Subject
140 000 Decision neuroscience; Behaviour Change and Well-beingAbstract
Individuals employ different moral principles to guide their social decision-making, thus expressing a specific 'moral strategy'. Which computations characterize different moral strategies, and how might they be instantiated in the brain? Here, we tackle these questions in the context of decisions about reciprocity using a modified Trust Game. We show that different participants spontaneously and consistently employ different moral strategies. By mapping an integrative computational model of reciprocity decisions onto brain activity using inter-subject representational similarity analysis of fMRI data, we find markedly different neural substrates for the strategies of ‘guilt aversion’ and 'inequity aversion', even under conditions where the two strategies produce the same choices. We also identify a new strategy, 'moral opportunism', in which participants adaptively switch between guilt and inequity aversion, with a corresponding switch observed in their neural activation patterns. These findings provide a valuable view into understanding how different individuals may utilize different moral principles.
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Academic publications [203856]
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging [3391]
- Electronic publications [102283]
- Faculty of Social Sciences [27309]
- Open Access publications [70938]
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