Abstract
RationaleTrust is a key component of social interactions. In order to assess the trustworthiness of others, people rely on both information learned from previous encounters, as well as on implicit biases associated with specific facial features.ObjectiveHere, we investigated the role of catecholamine (dopamine and noradrenaline) transmission on trust decisions as a function of both experienced behavior and facial features.MethodsTo increase catecholamine levels, methylphenidate (MPH, i.e., Ritalin®, 20 mg) was administered to participants (N = 24) prior to their playing a well-studied economic task, namely the Trust Game (Berg et al. 1995). We measured the amount of money invested with a variety of game partners. Across game partners, we manipulated two aspects of trust: the facial trust level (high facial trust, low facial trust, and non-social) and the likelihood of reciprocation (high, low).ResultsResults demonstrated no main effect of MPH on investments, but rather a selective lowering of investments under MPH as compared with placebo with the game partners who were low on facial trustworthiness and were low reciprocators.ConclusionThese results provide evidence that MPH administration impacts social trust decision-making, but does so in a context-specific manner.
Highlights
We engage in decision-making on a daily basis: from relatively unimportant choices, such as deciding what to wear on a particular day, to ones of greater consequence, such as whether to accept a particular job offer
One set of analyses focused only on the first encounter between participants and each of the game partners, to assess whether facial trustworthiness alone had an impact on investment amounts, and whether methylphenidate modulated this effect
We found a main effect of facial trustworthiness expressed in an overall significant difference in mean investments on those trials (Facial Trust, F(2, 271) = 5.896, p = 0.003)
Summary
Methylphenidate (MPH, i.e., Ritalin®, 20 mg) was administered to participants (N = 24) prior to their playing a well-studied economic task, namely the Trust Game (Berg et al 1995). We measured the amount of money invested with a variety of game partners. We manipulated two aspects of trust: the facial trust level (high facial trust, low facial trust, and non-social) and the likelihood of reciprocation (high, low). Results Results demonstrated no main effect of MPH on investments, but rather a selective lowering of investments under MPH as compared with placebo with the game partners who were low on facial trustworthiness and were low reciprocators
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