"An eye for an eye"?

  • Humans have evolved strong preferences for equity and fairness. Neuroimaging studies suggest that punishing unfairness is associated with the activation of a neural network comprising the anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula, the ventral striatum, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Here, we report the neuronal correlates of retribution and "forgiveness" in a scenario, in which individuals first acted as a recipient in an Ultimatum Game, and subsequently assumed the position of a proposer in a Dictator Game played against the same opponents as in the Ultimatum Game. Most subjects responded in a tit-for-tat fashion, which was accompanied by activation of the ventral striatum, corroborating previous findings that punishing unfair behaviour has a rewarding connotation. Subjects distinguished between the human opponent and computer condition by activation of the ventromedial PFC in the human condition, indicative of mentalising. A substantial number of subjects did not retaliate. Neurally, this "forgiveness" behaviour was associated with the activation of the right (and to a lesser degree left) DLPFC, a region that serves as a cognitive control region and thus may be involved in inhibiting emotional responses against unfairness.

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Metadaten
Author:Martin BrüneORCiDGND, Georg JuckelORCiDGND, Björn EnziGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:294-72465
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0073519
Parent Title (English):PLoS ONE
Subtitle (English):Neural correlates of retribution and forgiveness
Publisher:Public Library of Science
Place of publication:San Francisco
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2020/06/19
Date of first Publication:2013/08/29
Publishing Institution:Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsbibliothek
Tag:Behavior; Decision making; Dictator game; Emotions; Neostriatum; Neuroimaging; Prefrontal cortex; Ultimatum game
Volume:8
Issue:8, Artikel e73519
First Page:e73519-1
Last Page:e73519-11
Institutes/Facilities:LWL-Universitätsklinikum Bochum, Klinik für Psychiatrie, Psychotherapie und Präventivmedizin
Research Department of Neuroscience
open_access (DINI-Set):open_access
Licence (English):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY 4.0 - Attribution 4.0 International