How the Opinion of Others Affects Our Valuation of Objects

Daniel K Campbell-Meiklejohn,Dominik R Bach,Andreas Roepstorff,Raymond J Dolan,Chris D Frith

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2010.04.055

Abstract

SummaryThe opinions of others can easily affect how much we value things. We investigated what happens in our brain when we agree with others about the value of an object and whether or not there is evidence, at the neural level, for social conformity through which we change object valuation. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging we independently modeled (1) learning reviewer opinions about a piece of music, (2) reward value while receiving a token for that music, and (3) their interaction in 28 healthy adults. We show that agreement with two “expert” reviewers on music choice produces activity in a region of ventral striatum that also responds when receiving a valued object. It is known that the magnitude of activity in the ventral striatum reflects the value of reward-predicting stimuli [1–8]. We show that social influence on the value of an object is associated with the magnitude of the ventral striatum response to receiving it. This finding provides clear evidence that social influence mediates very basic value signals in known reinforcement learning circuitry [9–12]. Influence at such a low level could contribute to rapid learning and the swift spread of values throughout a population.

Highlights

We independently manipulated object reward, opinions of others about its value (social agreement), and their interaction in the same task and subjects
Of the few studies of social influence in the human brain [13,14,15,16], none have unambiguously shown the level of the value system at which social influence affects the value of an object when the object is received
Agreement between one’s own opinion and normative opinion modulates activity in the ventral striatum [14], analogous to the dopamine-mediated reward signal observed in this region during reinforcement learning [9,10,11,12]

Summary

Introduction

We independently manipulated object reward, opinions of others about its value (social agreement), and their interaction in the same task and subjects. Object Reward Subjects randomly received a token for one song on each trial (subject’s preference or an alternative).

Results

Conclusion